Book 1: Rising Tide
by Flipdarkfuture95
Summary: Things are about to get messy in Republic City. A young man tries and fails to kill Amon, and joins the Avatar in trying to stop him. But Amon is clever, and is about to do something that will change the world, and everyone's minds, forever. (Feedback and criticism welcome.)
1. The Owl, And The Shadow

**A/N**

Hey all, I realize I haven't really made a peep in a while but that's about to change very soon. Before Raging Flame gets released I'll be posting a few revised chapters for both Rising Tide and Shattered Earth. No major revisions, just expanding what is already there with details I originally wanted to include.  
To avoid spoiling new readers, I'll simply offer a list of which chapters have been revised.

- Chapter 2

- Chapter 4

- Chapter 6

- Chapter 7

- Chapter 8

- Chapter 13

- Chapter 14

- Chapter 15

- Chapter 20

- Chapter 29

- Chapter 30

- Chapter 33

Okay... that's actually more extensive than I thought. Don't worry though, there won't be any huge sweeping changes made or anything, only expansion on what's already been established and a little more fleshing out of the characters, and a few small scenes added in. Primarily dialogue and character development scenes.

Do not worry, I'm only going to do something on this scale once and that's it. I thank you for your patience.

* * *

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Book 1

**Rising Tide**

Chapter 1

**The Owl, and The Shadow**

* * *

_Warehouse 15-A, Republic City._

On the roof of an apartment building overlooking a brightly lit warehouse, a feathery terror was about to strike back at his nemesis, ending a titanic struggle between man and bird, between nature and fleshy meat sacks, and between a disgruntled owl-hawk and an unfortunate equalist chosen as his victim. The bird's massive wings disoriented him, prompting him to bravely respond by flailing wildly.

"This thing again! Get it off! Get it off, getitoff, getitoff!" He chose for his battlecry, apparently the bird took this as a personal challenge, and only worked harder to turn his head into a new conquest. The young equalist cried out as he slipped on a puddle of dirty water, pitching headfirst into the iron rails that encircled the roof, the clang sending a resounding thud in his head. It screeched and hovered nearby, just daring him to stand his ground and put his dukes up.

Another chi blocker nearby, leaning over the rail and keeping a vigil on the low-lying warehouse sighed, flicking a tiny gray pebble from his hand, which struck the bird in the chest. The predator squawked angrily, and flew off into the smog of the Badgermole Heights district, presumably to pick on another unfortunate soul.

As he patted his mask to check for scratches or rips he heard the other Equalist chuckle. "You aren't going to beat a bender screaming like that, Lagi." his deep voice doing nothing to hide his amusement.

Lagi rolled his eyes, grumbling as he regained his balance. "Why can't we fight a battle against the Owl-Hawks? Benders are less of a problem then they are."

"You don't want Amon to hear you say that kid...or at someone else to tell him that you did.", in the past six months Lagi had spent assigned to Maro's watch, he never bluffed about anything.

Lagi narrowed his eyes disapprovingly and folded his arms. "You know Maro, I've heard you state that at least ten times now, its lost the _edge_."

Maro rolled his eyes derisively. "I'm sure the Owl-Hawks will fear this newfound confidence."

The rooftop fell silent as the conversation died. Lagi just turned and leant over the rail, focusing on the streets below. Maro sighed. "Lagi...how's the family?"

The kid seemed to perk up at once. "Oh! We're expecting, she's gonna be born sometime in summer!"

"Good, that's good." Maro rubbed a spot on his neck that began to itch like crazy.

They both fell silent again, although now it was a comfortable one. For a few seconds, only the wind was making itself heard.

Lagi piped up again. "Hey Maro-"

"Hmm?" he turned towards Lagi, fearing another inane question.

The young man's voice was strangely quiet, and a bit fearful as well. "My baby girl- what's going to happen to her if she can bend? What will Amon do?"

Maro went quiet as the question caught him off-guard. He never really thought about a Equalist having a bender in their family. "I...don't know."

"Oh-" He quickly thought up an idea to calm his younger partner's fears. This was something that had come up plenty of times in the movement before, he just never thought it would come from someone he knew or worked with personally. "Look, next time I see Amon, I'll ask him for you." Maro reassured him.

His young partner looked up, an earnest smile on him. "Thanks, Maro."

The older man excused himself, disappearing around the corner of a small roof generator to patrol the other side of the building.

Lagi's eyes grew heavy behind the foggy green lenses of his mask, and he realized that he was going to doze off. He shook himself awake, before giving up and drifting deeper into a light sleep.

On the side of the building away from the Warehouse, a pair of hands held on the edge of the roof with a shaky grip. The shadow pulled himself up silently, thankful for the black gloves.

He kept low, and ducked behind a low wall. He kept his back to it, and shuffled right. The wall made a hard turn forwards, running all the way to a closed stairwell descending into the building. He peeked over the top of it, noting the two Equalists. One was obviously asleep on his feet, while the only sign the other was there was the sound of smoke grenades shaking in his pouch.

He ran past the stairwell, vaulting over the rail. He dropped twenty feet before slowing his descent, using a gesture to form an air cushion around him. His feet brushed against the ground as he released the air. He bent low again, putting his back up against the outer shell of an exterior generator. He made his way to the edge of it, leaning slightly to watch the other side.

He heard footsteps coming his way, and pulled himself back. A trio of Equalists walked into view, heading past the generator and to the other wall of the warehouse. He saw a heavy-duty steel door set into the middle of the wall, he just had to get across a ten metre gap of brightly lit ground and he would get there.

Watching the last of the guards disappear around the corner, he moved, swiftly crossing the illuminated ground to the door. He pulled off a glove, and started to flex and bend his fingers, working at the door's lock by manipulating the air inside it. A click rewarded his ears.

He opened the door slowly, stepping into a long tunnel filled with steam. He walked forwards cautiously, wishing he was far enough in training to move the heavy gas away. The metal walkway clanged silently as he moved closer and closer towards the middle of the tunnel.

He stopped for a moment, suddenly very doubtful about continuing. His bad vibe was confirmed with a black shape moving towards him at a fast speed. He tilted the side, the object touching him lightly across the cheek. A stinging pain left in the shape's wake as he gasped in surprise. The object embedded itself in a fuse box set beside the door, sparking as it overloaded the fuse box.

An even larger human shape was running towards him through the steam. He rolled forwards, barely managing to avoid another baton. The figure whirled around, his hands grabbing the tails of his coat. He grunted as he spun around with a kick, hitting nothing but steam as the figure dodged with impossible speed. A fist slammed into his chest, sending him sliding back a bit.

He ran forward, and dropped to the floor, extending his foot forwards. The slide missed, and he quickly tried to whirl around, but wasn't fast enough. A white pain erupted from his back as he felt the baton jab viciously into his spine. He cried out in pain, and flew his hands outwards, using a pocket of air to send the figure flying back. He didn't hesitate, and ran forwards, locking the heavy door behind him. He ran towards corridor junction, seeing that the door ahead had been closed off with a large padlock he turned left, skidding around the corner and running full pelt into the dark stairwell at the end.

He took the stairs two at a time, and with relief saw the slightly ajar door at the top. He flung it open, heading out into a massive rectangular hall. The upper reaches were dimly lit, of that he was thankful for. He stood on a platform at the top of a row of storing shelves, which were laden with goods and exports from out of the city. He walked over to the railing on his left, overlooking a brightly lit area of the hall.

Four sturdy columns held up the roof over this area, and the floor had a simple red rug covering it that stretched from wall to wall. At the focal point of these columns was a simple wooden altar, with lit candles standing on each corner. Their flames danced gracefully, the flickering light they gave off reflecting off of the white mask of a man kneeling before them, head bowed in front of a cloth-covered object. _Him._

Underneath the calm expression he wore, his thoughts went ablaze at the sight of the hooded figure. His target. His _revenge_.

He stepped back a few meters from the rail, unsheathing a sword from his scabbard. Both sides of the blade were straight tempered, allowing for effective slashing and cutting attacks. The edge came to a thin and, sharp point seventy centimetres from the guard, making it very well suited for thrusts and stabs. The edge ran straight, strengthening the blade so it wouldn't break. It was a fine weapon, and his teacher taught him well. But what he was about to do, was entirely made up by _him_.

He gently massaged the air around his feet, coaxing it into a sort of pressurized spring. He held onto the sword firmly, and broke into a sprint, running towards the rail. When the time was right he pumped his arm skywards and the air cushion propelled him forwards, his arc would end at the hooded figures head.

As he rocketed forwards, he held his blade out in front of him, the tip aimed straight ahead. All of his fury, his grief, would go into this blow. Unblinking and focused, he drove the blade's tip forward, straight through the fabric of the man's hoo-

The fabric was replaced by a grim white mask, which moved almost imperceptibly to the side, the blade kept soaring forwards, followed by the surprised boy. A vice like grip wrapped around his right shoulder, and he was spun around, vision swimming as he was released, sent crashing against a pillar.

His very core was shaken by the impact, and he barely registered the massive splint now visible in the wooden column. He shook it off, growling as he stumbled to stand. He still registered the dark figure walking slowly towards him. "Outmatched already?"

The boy roared his answer, holding the blade in a two handed grip as he ran at the figure. He slashed at Amon, only for him to stop the blade cold and hold it captive in his thick gloved hands. He leashed a vicious kick at the boy, connecting between his legs. The boy had the breath taken out of him, and was thrown backwards by the blow, severely stunned. He coughed as he rolled over onto his back, trying and failing to get up. His body fought against his efforts to move, and every time he tried blinding pain stomped him down.

Sluggishly, he managed to get moving again, raising himself slowly while taking deep,gasping breaths. The boy swayed terribly as he got to his feet, trying to blink away a cloud of sweat and blood. The cold white mask seemed to shake slightly, as if the man behind it was being disappointed by his efforts.

He'll change _that_. He held his sword loosely, failing to get a firm grip on the handle. Amon walked purposefully towards him, arms at his sides. He waited for the terrorist to get closer, and then acted. He swung his sword with both hands, whipping it around in a powerful sweep at head level.

Amon merely leaned back, the edge of the blade missing his neck by millimeters. He snapped back, gripping the middle of the sword blade and wrenching it out of the boy's languid hold. He tossed it away, the blade clattering as it hit the hard floor near the shelves. The boy instinctively backed away a few steps, stopped by the felling of splintered wood behind him.

Amon's hand flew towards his neck, gripping him in an iron hold. He slowly held the boy closer, so that he could stare into the cold black depths of the mask's eyes.

"Did you really think that it would be so simple?" The boy struggled against his grip in vain. Amon turned and flung him, sending him crashing to the floor in front of the altar. The boy gasped for air, curling up in pain. Slowly and inexorably, the grim figure walked towards him once more.

"What a pit-" his dark eyes narrowed as he turned his head slightly towards a cracking noise. A churning spray of water bursted from behind a line of shelves. One of the sections wall sections groaned and split apart, forced open by a torrent of water spilling into the warehouse. A few unconscious equalists were swept in as well, followed by a band of armored men and women.

The one at their head, a tall, gaunt man, shouted out orders to his fellows, who filed into the central walkway between the shelves. A positively greedy gleam showed itself in his blue eyes as he saw what was happening. "We've got him!"

Another equalist was sent flying past the men, crashing into the corner of a shelf. One more figure, wearing armour like the others, walked in. She had her brown hair tied into a pony tail, and seemed to carry herself with a proud – some would say arrogant – stature.

Until she saw the hooded man at the end of the hall.

Amon calmly picked up the boy's sword, and like the finger of fate, pointed it at the girl. He ran forward, holding the sword in a expert grip as he dodged chunks of earth, and whips of water, drawing closer and closer to the line of benders.

Hopping lithely over a disc of cracked floor meant to hit his legs, he used the momentum to lunge at her, the tip of the blade extended. The girl was frozen in fear, unable to move or think at all… flashes of a sea of green lenses rooting her to the spot.

A massive gust of wind threw the warehouse into chaos, tossing around heavy crates and mechanical parts like mere toys, the blast hit Amon in mid-air, sending him careening over the heads of the benders, landing roughly on the far end of the warehouse. The boy got up painfully, one arm held close to his chest as he yelled, unleashing a massive wall of fire at Amon.

The benders sprang into action, quickly spinning water and earth around themselves to deflect the flames. The earthen dome and water shields hissed and crackled, with the material on the exterior being melted into a smooth wavy surface. A constant stream of steam wafted off of the water, which spun furiously to keep the heat out.

Keeping the water shields up, they turned as one, except for the girl, to see Amon walk away calmly, using a massive hole in the wall to escape into the depths of the city. The sword lay abandoned on the ground.

With the building falling apart, the brown skinned leader shook the girl, trying to get her out of her paralysis. She blinked twice, her face a mask. He pointed over to the boy by the altar, and slapped her on the shoulder; he directed the others back through the hole, staying behind to help the girl.

With a sigh the boy collapsed, utterly broken physically and emotionally. His vision flickered and blackened. And he coughed and spluttered as smoke seeped into his lungs.

"-ot him, Korra?" a smooth and accentless voice asked.

He saw the underside of "Korra's" chin nod.

"Come on quickly then! We'll head back to the station, damn we almost had him!" the voice had a hint of frustration and disappointment to it.

* * *

_Republic City, Police Headquarters. _

A long but solid building sat alongside Avatar road, managing to impose a sense of authority and iron will in a surprisingly simple shape. It was crowned with five domes of iron, each one a refueling point for the zeppelins of Republic City's police force before they left on their constant patrols of the streets below. In a large alcove above the main entrance was a statue of a woman cast in solid blackened metal, polished to its best as she watched the people below with constant vigilance. Inside the building was a maze of justice and the will to do right, and in a quiet corner of that maze was a grey, square room. Holding only a wooden table and a simple chair. An absolutely dejected boy was sitting on it, staring without seeing at a glass mirror. His black longcoat seemed to just hang off of him, and his grey eyes seemed shrunken, matching the deflated look the rest of his body held.

He was absolutely silent.

On the other side of the glass mirror were three people. The youngest of them, the brown haired girl from before, leant back against a wall, her well toned arms crossed in front of her. She was staring down at the floor. Her armour was sitting on a table nearby, and she now dressed in a light blue tunic, and brown seal-skin boots. The chief of police and a city councilman stood in front of the glass mirror, watching their guest.

"What's the meaning of this, Councillor?" she regarded Tarrlok with eyes the color of iron, and the temperament to match.

The brown skinned man from before, still dressed in his armor, clasped his hands behind his back. "Simple. He interrupted our capture of a wanted terrorist, brought down half a warehouse with uncontrolled fire-bending, and..." his eyes almost gleamed with a strange light. "He could air bend as well."

"Who is he?" Lin demanded, watching the grey eyed teenager closely.

"No clue, we couldn't find any identifying marks on him, and he hasn't said anything at all." Tarrlok sighed.

The chief of police narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms. "That's going to change."

She was about to head out the door, when Tarrlok stopped her. "With all due respect, Chief Bei Fong, I would like to interrogate him first. I'm pulling rank here."

For a moment he thought of closing his eyes as death came swiftly, but none of the sort happened.

"Make it quick" she said in a low growl.

He nodded dismissively as he exited the room, seemingly forgetting the girl was there as he headed past her. No one could see the almost eager smile on him.

A few seconds later the door to the interrogation room opened with a squeak, swinging shut behind Tarrlok as he strode in. He placed his hands on the table, leaning in towards the boy. He didn't seem to realise or acknowledge that he was there. The councilman straightened, deciding that aught to change.

"Quiet one are you?" He teased him, trying to get a rise out of the teen. Stone cold silence rose instead.

He shook his head good-naturedly. The boy merely sat there in cold response.

He extended a hand towards him. "My name is councilman Tarrlok, I'm a representative of the northern water tribe."

Nothing. He sighed, and backed off a few steps, deciding to be a bit more direct. "How do you know Amon?"

The boy seemed to move a little, and Tarrlok noticed his hands had tightened slightly. He continued. "Why were you at the warehouse?"

Another twitch of movement. His fingers on the table seemed to curl a bit.

"Dead family? Another sad story to add to Amon's list of crimes?" it was something he'd seen time and time again, the same story repeated over and over.

The boy mumbled something in response. The councilman reddened and left the room in a rush, leaving the boy to stew.

* * *

The door to the small observation room flung open, Tarrlok's nostrils flared as he clenched his fists. Chief Bei Fong shook her head with a smirk. "My turn now Councillor?"

"Not even your mother could get him to crack!"

She chose not to respond to that. "Well before I go in there to ask nicely- what are his abilities? He's a bender?"

The girl leaning against the wall answered first. "He's a air bender."

"Something to add, Avatar?"

"It's in his movements, Tenzin told me how air nomads behave and move. Might want to take him out of that confined space."

"I've never heard of a air bender burning down a warehouse."

The girl shrugged. "Neither have I." she stopped talking, going back to looking at the floor.

Tarrlok shrugged. The chief of police narrowed her eyes as she took a glance at the boy. "I'll have to be careful then."

She exited the room confidently, flinging the door to the boy's room open like she owned it, and stamped a boot down on the ground. A square patch of the floor slammed upwards, with the back of it raising itself even higher. She sat down on her chair. She started off simply. "Name."

The boy didn't acknowledge her, still staring at the table's surface.

"Name."

He didn't care, keeping his mouth shut. A iron grip wrapped itself around his neck, and the woman threw him up against the wall. A dangerously calm tone followed the violent action. "Name."

He didn't bother struggling, merely hanging there with the armored woman's hand wrapped around his neck. They stood like that for a full minute, one staring at the other with a unbreakable will. The other silent. He fell to the floor roughly, the pressure around his neck gone as the door opened and closed. Leaving him alone again.

She stomped back into the little room, hands shaking with barely contained rage. Tarrlok's eyes seemed to laugh at her, and she felt like stuffing him into a metal tomb. "Looks like we're both wrong." He held up his hands in apology at her growl.

"He can rot for all I care." She made a slicing motion with her arm, not caring for the little punk's attitude. They busted kids like him all the _damn time_, why should she give him special treatment because of his airbending?

Tarrlok's eyes narrowed in warning at the Chief, his mind busy whirling at all the opportunities the boy presented. "No he won't, I'll send a message to Tenzin-" he began to say, when the door swung shut with a crash, they both looked to it and saw that the Avatar had left the room.

* * *

_I failed...what the hell do I do now? _He was shaken from his thoughts with the door opening again, this time gently and...normally. That surprised him, all things considered.

The girl from before stepped through, watching him cautiously, stopping by the table while wringing her hands.

He tried ignoring her, preferring to stay silent than to be asked any more questions. As he twisted to the side to stare at the wall he shifted his shoulder painfully, making him curse quietly.

The girl moved towards him, unbuttoning a pouch on her hip before he could say or do anything. A stream of clear, blue water flowed out of it, which she directed towards him. He was about to protest when the water coalesced into a blob, flattening against his shoulder, giving him the sensation of being attacked by a jelly creature. Something which usually only happened in nightmares he had as a kid.

His skin itched a bit as the bruises and torn muscles were washed away and knitted back together. Despite himself, he sighed quietly as he felt the soothing embrace of water bending. It felt good.

The water was drawn back, flowing gently into Korra's pouch. He didn't know what to say, completely new to this kind of treatment, and didn't have the chance when she lowered a hand to him. He stared it for a moment before taking it, and was accidentally flung over the table and into the window, smacking into it. He slid down it painfully.

"Oh damn! Uh...sorry?"

He picked himself up, rubbing his cheek gingerly and arching a eyebrow as he saw the muscles this girl had. "You certainly have a bit of pull."

She chuckled nervously, glancing at her water pouch. "Sometimes I forget how strong I am."

he suppressed a groan as he straightened, moving closer to the table. "Yeah...so, you're the Avatar?" He remembered her face, saw it on some motivational poster on his way here, on his way to _him_.

"Yep." she bobbed her head quickly as he sat down on the empty seat.

He looked at her for a moment, not entirely convinced. "Master of all four elements, savior of the world?"

"Definitely- well, three elements currently. Still working on the air part." her voice dropped away a little as she said that last part, and he guessed that was a sore topic for her.

"Uh huh." He studied her for a moment, noting how strongly built she was. Like he needed an _example_.

"So - my name is Korra." She held her hand out and grinned. He took it cautiously and they shook, luckily with no wrestling moves being exchanged. The room was absolutely filled with awkwardness as he looked down at the table, not really sure what else he could do.

She broke the silence. "Are you alright?" she said as her eyes softened, reminded that the man she was fighting had done terrible things.

He looked to the side, finding a crack in floor he could focus on. "I've been thrown around harder." He muttered.

"I meant- About tonight." her voice went small as she said the last part, getting flashes of that Amon and the outstretched sword.

He sighed. "No." He clenched his hands again.

She held her hands up. "Uh- sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No. It's fine. But can we talk about something else?" Desperately he wanted to get off the topic, even if the girl in front of him was being nice about it. He had to hand it to her, at least she wasn't pushy like the Metalbender and the City Councilman.

"Ookay. You burnt down a warehouse." she smirked, tilting her head at him.

"Yeah, I apologize for that. Can't pay for it though." he turned out his pockets, showing nothing but lint and scrunched up paper.

She held up her index finger. "No I mean, you burnt down a warehouse _after_ lifting the crates like toys."

"Well I'm an Airbender." he shrugged, not quite sure what the problem was.

"Um no, you can Firebend." she corrected him.

Ah. He shrugged again. "I'm kind of both."

"I'm pretty sure only the _Avatar_ can do that." She patted her chest. "Y'know, me."

"What can I say? It's a gift."

"It was kind of terrifying to be honest." she admitted, wringing her hands as she looked away from him and at the floor. She'd never seen a more ferocious display of bending before in her life. But it did stop her from getting run through.

She fell silent, and he began to fell uncomfortable again, trying to stop his eyes from wondering anywhere they shouldn't be. He decided to do something, clearing his throat. "My name is Tai."

"Do I have to say my name again?" the girl joked.

He chuckled. "Uh I don't think so."

A smirk played on her lips, before it grew into a genuine smile. "Good. And thank you. For saving me from him."

He rather liked watching her smile.

* * *

_Republic City, Avatar Road._

The first light of the rising sun poked through the tall buildings of Republic City, lighting up the Police Headquarters with a soft radiance. Satomobiles and rickshaws went about their business, while men going to work were walking down the footpaths, and their family's were beginning to wake up from sleep. A shadow fell across the area, as a massive creature flew towards the ground.

It was covered in shaggy white fur, and had a wide, slightly squashed head, with two large brown eyes. Its face was brown as well, and its nose was dark blue. It yawned as it touched the ground, causing the air bender on its saddle to stumble slightly as he stepped off of it. Tenzin gave him a disapproving glance, prompting the Bison to keep yawning as it laid down to have a rest.

He strode into the building through the main doors, entering into a wide lobby area, filled with chairs and desks. Police officers, clerks, and technicians bustled about as they handled the affairs of dealing out law and justice. He walked up to the main reception desk, behind which sat a very cheerful woman with sandy brown hair.

Her face cracked open into a smile as she saw him. "Ah! Councillor Tenzin, how can we help you today?"

"I got a message from Tarrlok about a incident last night. Can you direct me to him?" he fought the urge to stare into those strangely hypnotic and bubbly eyes.

"Sure can, just head right until you reach the end of the hall, its the last door on the right. Have a pleasant day sir!" she waved at him cheerily, flashing pearly white teeth in a over-sweetened smile that would make a poodle-otter blind.

Tenzin nodded absently. "Yes..." he, air bending master, son of avatar Aang and a all-round serious guy, was utterly creeped out by her cheerful demeanor. She reminded him of a girl he dated while still young, now a woman who had a permanently dented tooth thanks to the efforts of a certain earthbender.

He nodded his thanks and left down the hall, looking for the last door in the right. Although the hall was filled with people walking towards and away from him, he never bumped into anyone, and found the quickest route through rather easily.

Putting a wiry hand on the door knob he pulled it open, and stepped in just in time to see Chief Bei Fong's eye twitch. Tarrlok stood there smugly, hands behind his back.

He bowed slightly. "Hello Lin." Tenzin straightened his mantle and regarded the slimy water tribesman with a wary eye, crossing his arms. "Alright Tarrlok, what is this?"

The Councilman nodded at the downcast teen on the other side of the glass window. "Someone with a very _interesting_ skill set."

Tenzin moved past him, clasping his hands behind his back as he surveyed the room. He noticed with a bit of disapproval that Korra was in there as well, talking with the boy. "Why is Korra in there?"

The Chief answered him. "Damn runt will only talk to her."

"Don't worry Lin, I'm sure it's only because of your winning personality." He fought the urge to flinch as the woman's eyes narrowed dangerously. Before she smirked and punched him in the shoulder.

The northern tribesman rolled his eyes. "We found him while raiding a Equalist warehouse in Badgermole heights. He tried to get to Amon before we could, and it nearly cost him."

"Any idea as to why he was going after Amon?"

Tarrlok shrugged. "Revenge is my best guess. The man has a lot of enemies."

"Hmm..." Tenzin's eyebrows furrowed as he rubbed his bony chin. "What's so special about him?"

"He's a Airbender, and also-" Tarrlok was stopped by Tenzin's slightly agape expression, before he quickly cleared his throat to hide it.

"A Airbender? As well?" Tenzin was getting decidedly uneasy about everything he uncovered about the boy, as new thoughts and ideas appeared. They started to fall into place as he recalled a former student of his. _Their son?_

Tarrlok's grumble brought him back to current matters, muttering something under his breath that if Ikki had heard, she would no longer have a innocent tongue. He rolled his eyes at his fellow councilman's display.

She glanced at him with her arms folded. "He's also a _firebender_."

The master Airbender was stopped in his thoughts, confirming what he was already going towards as he looked through the window, watching the boy intently. "I'm going in there."

Lin's laugh was slightly mocking. "Good luck with that, Tenzin."

They heard a knock on the door, and one of her underlings stepped in. He was a recruit, and it showed with him gulping as he saluted the three of them. "Ma'am. A situation is brewing near the train station that requires your attention."

She nodded curtly. "Understood, Gummi." she glanced at the others for a moment, shaking her head as she left the room.

Tarrlok stripped off pieces of his armor, placing them neatly next to Korra's pile of gear. Underneath he was wearing a simple blue tunic, and finely made black pants. He bid goodbye to Tenzin, leaving after the Chief.

Tenzin stood alone in the small office, quietly watching the boy for a few minutes, before deciding to go in.

* * *

The door swung open, and Korra saw who it was. "Tenzin?" She watched her Airbending teacher stride into the room, for a moment mistaking him for a gathering storm cloud.

He bowed his head towards her. "Hello Korra." he closed the door before stepping into the room, stroking his beard while studying the boy. Certainly looked the part.

Tai eyed him warily, trying to decide if he was like the creep and the angry woman before.

He went for the empty chair at the other side of the table, using a gust of wind to push it out from its hiding place. He sat down and placed his elbows on the table, lacing his hands together as he watched Tai.

Korra wasn't sure what to make of this, so she backed off slightly towards the door, stopping when he spoke.

"You broke the first rule of training: Never seek a fight." It wasn't so much as a insult, more of a statement. Airbending is about evasion and deflection, not blindly running headfirst into a unwinnable fight.

Tenzin continued. "Your behavior is strange for an Airbender, if I must say so. Who were your parents?"

The boy crossed his arms. "Colonists." He replied noncommittally, staring away from him and at the wall, a strange look in his eyes.

The older man closed his eyes. "So your father was an Firebender, and your mother a Airbender?" he watched impassively as the boy's eyes widened a little.

"Who was your master?" he pressed, piling the questions on top of one another to keep him from closing up.

"What does it matter?" the boy replied, leaning back in his chair.

"I need to know if I'm going to train you." The room was silent, and Korra's jaw hung open as she peered at the two of them, not expecting him to say that. She glanced at the boy to see his reaction, and was slightly put off by the scowl forming on him.

"What makes you think I need training?" the boy said indignantly, arching an eyebrow.

"Many things. Who was your master?" Tenzin didn't really need to ask something like that, knowing of all the current Airbenders who could teach others the art. He was in this the room and the other was gone from the world.

Tai crossed his arms. "Telei."

This time it was Tenzin's turn to be surprised as he went a bit pale. "Telei...I thought he died during the black day?"

"He was killed by...someone else." The boy's hands were clenching, his knuckles nearly turning white. He must have deeply respected Telei to do something like this. As he looked into the boy's gray eyes he realized that it wasn't just Telei that drove him to do something like this. Something else happened as well. Tenzin frowned at a flash of vivid images running through his mind, quickly he quashed them, placing the priority on at least giving the boy somewhere to stay.

He nodded, understanding him perfectly as he had made his decision. "I'm taking you to Air Temple Island."

"What?" Genuine confusion and that constant stubbornness mixed in the word, as the boy eyed him suspiciously.

"You need somewhere to stay, also somewhere where we can begin your training immediately." Tenzin explained. He saw something in the boy, past all that annoying teen punk routine and the burning hatred bubbling inside of him. He saw a genuinely good person.

"I don't need training." the boy started, before being cut off by a stern stare from Tenzin.

"Don't be stupid, you're reckless and destructive, the exact opposite of a air bender." he drilled into the boy forcefully, sincerely trying to get him to see his point of view. He needed help.

"How will this convince me to go with you?" the boy asked condescendingly, not even bothering to look at Tenzin, instead choosing to focus on the table.

The Airbender suppressed a sigh he was well accustomed to. "You have nothing but the clothes you wear, and the sword you keep by your side. No place to go, no friends to count on. Without those, you will not last long." he explained, trying to drum into the stubborn boy that he shouldn't be on his own like this.

Tenzin stopped talking, and stood up to leave the room. As he neared the door, he beckoned for Korra to follow. "Let's go, Korra."

The girl was unsure of what to do, glancing at the boy drumming his fingers on the table, pointedly keeping all of his focus on the wall with a burning glare. "But.."

He didn't see any reason to go with them. He was absolutely fine on his own, he found Amon without any help whatsoever, crept into his base alone and dodged all the patrols. His drumming lessened slightly as he made the mistake of glancing at those blue eyes and promptly lost himself in them. Maybe he needed a bit of help.

He sighed. "Fine." He pushed back from the table, the legs of the chair scraping against the metal floor as he stood up and fixed the old guy with a scowl. He moved pushed past him and made another mistake when he glanced at Korra, who smiled. He sighed as he looked away and set his sights on the door.

Korra folded her arms, giving Tenzin a glare that could melt ice. He shrugged and raised an quizzical eyebrow while straightening his half cloak, and led the way after him.

* * *

Oogi yawned, his massive tombstone sized teeth coming together with a loud noise. A crowd of people had surrounded the Sky Bison, completely unsure of what to make of it.

As Tai exited the building the crowd was calm, even beginning to warm up to the large and strange looking creature. A pair of children wearing green shirts and brown pants nervously walked up to him.

The massive creature studied them with a large eye, and decided to lick the boy from head to toe on a whim. His rough tongue almost knocked the boy off of his feet as it attacked him, not caring for his protests and shouts. The girl laughed at her brother being covered in saliva, she reached up and touched the bison on his nose, making several things happen at once.

Oogi's eyes boggled, and his nose twitched unbearably. He reared back, scaring the two children standing in his shadow. He came back down with a massive thud, sneezing and sending the girl and boy flying back into the crowd. The mass of people parted instinctively, crying out in alarm as they saw them careen towards the tough walls of the police headquarters.

Tai saw this and reacted, sweeping his arms together and thrusting his palms forwards. The two children's mid-air journey was halted by a soft cushion of air. And they dropped lightly to the ground.

He shook his head and walked through the crowd, trying not to catch the eye of anyone. He stood in front of Oogi, who was busy trying to scratch his nose with stubby leg. He was grunting in frustration.

Tai scratched his nose for him, stilling the Bison as the annoying itch slowly went away. He took a few steps back, letting Oogi sniff him, like Telei had taught him with Heimeng.

Tenzin appeared behind him. "Making friends already are we?"

The boy ignored him, walking around Oogi's side to climb into the massive saddle. He chose one of the back corners, sitting next to a orange covered ledger that held absolutely nothing of interest to him. Korra jumped in after him, choosing the middle of the saddle, pressing her back up against the side and stretching her legs across, taking up enough space for two people to sit side by side. A gust of wind ruffled his black hair slightly, as Tenzin gracefully dropped onto Oogi's neck, grabbing onto his reins.

A uncharacteristic noise came out of his mouth. "Yip Yip!" he calmly said.

With a rumble the Bison lifted off, each flap of his heavy tail generating lift. He guided him towards the statue of Aang, holding on loosely as they left the police building.

* * *

A man watched the group depart behind green goggles. He was perched on top of a apartment building facing police headquarters. On his belt, two kali sticks hung loosely. He held a radio in his gloved hands.

"They've left the station. Heading back to their island." He reported, following their giant mount as it slowly shrank into the distance, before finally disappearing between the blue and red roofs of the Twin Dragons.

The radio began to crackle again. "Leave them for now. Keep watching the boy and report back to me."

"Understood." The man with the green goggles flicked off the dial on the radio, placing it back on a hook on his belt as he straightened and walked away from the edge of the building, continuing his observation.

* * *

潮

* * *

**A/N**

Just putting up links to the other stories in the series. In case you're wondering about who the main characters are, it will still be Korra and Tai. I apologize if you want to know who's being shipped but I think reading the story will answer that one for you.

Breaking Ice (Short story bridging Rising Tide and Shattered Earth)

s/8433653/1/Breaking-Ice

Book 2: Shattered Earth (The next in the Changing Elements series)

s/8570734/1/Book-2-Shattered-Earth


	2. The Pillow, And The Spark

潮

* * *

_Pro-Bending Arena, Republic City._

A soft white object landed on Bolin's snoring expression with surprising strength and impact, replacing the lovely image of a brown-skinned girl doing things he was certain would violate some kind of modesty law in some place with rough white fabric. Despite his best efforts the interruption shunted the girl and her blue eyes out of his head, and a single thought managed to crawl out of his sluggish mind. Mako was sadistic.

Sometimes he really hated his brother. Said brother was sitting on the other end of the couch, his arms crossed. They were in a square room, with a ladder heading upwards between them. Their couch spanned three sides of the room. The room's windows ran all around them, and were covered by blinds so as to not let the blinding sunlight in such a critical hour of the morning.

"Wake up, Bolin." He was leaning forward on the unstable couch nearby, shaking his head slightly as he sipped from a cup of tea while reading the newspaper.

Like death deciding to live again, he rose from the couch as he rubbed at his green eyes. "Wuz' time is it?" he slurred, using the language of the half-dead to ask his question.

His brother barely glanced away from the newspaper as he suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. "Well, the sun is up."

"Specifically..?" Bolin's speech became clearer by the second as his head emptied itself of the natural fogginess, and he yawned to illustrate this very point.

Mako could hold it in no longer, and rolled his eyes. "8:00 AM."

"I could use the sleep." he said, scratching a itchy part on the back of his dark-colored shorts.

"Not with me around." Mako said, concentrating on using his finger to shoot a tiny stream of fire at the cup of noodles nearby, warming up the heat-resistant material and the delicious broth within.

"Damn." he whined, waking up the ball of red fur around his neck, it stretched,and shook itself as Bolin sat up, a storm cloud forming on his features as he yawned and stretched, grumbling. He rolled his neck, scratching himself as he headed towards the ladder. That really _was_ a itchy spot.

Mako grabbed the newspaper on the coffee table, skimming through it as Bolin slipped on the second rung of the ladder. As he neared the top of it, reaching for the latch, Mako told him something he didn't want to hear. "We're out of milk and coffee."

Bolin sighed as he disappeared above the hatch. "I'll head out soon and get some more. Got nothing else to do today."

His head poked out above the wooden floor as he lifted himself to his feet, walking towards the kitchen that took up half the room. Heading past a decrepit toaster with rusted metal showing through peeling brown paint, he found their little black iron kettle; perched next to the sink and overshadowed by a leaning and swaying tower of stuff-encrusted bowls.

The metal was hot to the touch much to Bolin's relief. He grabbed a cup out of the cabinet, tipping a spoonful of brown powder into the bottom. He filled it up with hot water, which brewed a dark brown liquid which – to him – smelled absolutely glorious; he went over to their ice box, grabbing a two litre jug of milk. After his nose determined that the white liquid was non-lethal, he poured it into his brew, taking a small delight in watching the pearly white stream spiral slowly into the center of the dark brown surface, dispersing into it and slowly changing the liquid to a light brown.

He took a sip, letting the searing liquid hit him like a sledge hammer. The boy leaned back on the counter, watching the city light up as the morning sun began to show its brilliance to all. Once again, he was reminded of why people tended to run over each other for these kind of places to live in.

The boy wasn't sure what to do today. Early yesterday morning, he was training with the other Fire Ferrets for their finals match against the Wolfbats, the reigning champions of pro-bending. Everything was changed when the radio came alive with Amon's terrifying voice on the air, issuing a warning that if the people kept worshipping their bending 'athletes' by watching or going to the finals, there would be severe consequences.

Naturally the Republic City council unanimously agreed to cancel the tournament, fearing his message of terror. _And _naturally Korra took them to see the council, to explain why they shouldn't bow down to him. Unfortunately they were unmoved by their arguments – particularly _his_ absolutely awesome contribution. He felt that would have swayed them if the Northern Water Tribe guy wasn't around.

As Tarrlok was about to bring down the gavel to authenticate their action, he was stopped by Chief Bei Fong, who was on their side of the argument strangely enough– they _should_ show some backbone and keep the arena open, she personally promised the safety of the spectators by bringing her elite metal-benders in force to guard the venue.

The council, apart from Tenzin, agreed.

He was very happy about that. If the tournament match was scrapped, he and his brother would have to find more ways of bringing in money to pay the rent. Winning the match will get the fire ferrets the prize money, and even a tiny portion of it would go far in getting them a permanent home. He heard the creaks of the ladders rungs being used by someone, and then a hatch swinging shut. Guess he was going to be doing his own stuff for today.

Bolin shrugged as he finished his coffee a few minutes later. After making an impact on the dishes, he left the attic with Pabu on-shoulder, locking the hatch behind him.

* * *

Mako walked down the pier that connected the pro-bending arena to the city, moving past a few scatterings of people and vendors that were getting an early start at setting up shop in anticipation of the main event. He took the path running along the water's edge, going down it until spotting the gate that led the way into the park nearby. Built to separate the waterfront from the busy roads and streets of people and add a little greenery to the district. The path ended after while, feeding into another footpath that clung to one of the main roads of the city – known as the 'high road'.

Crowds of people passed him by and on occasion several animals as well. He didn't pay them any attention, merely focusing on getting to a crossing nearby. He waited with several others, including a very happy young man who was dressed dizzying arrays of green clothing, for the lights to go red, and the pedestrian signal to go green.

A constant stream of cars left them stranded there for twenty minutes, leaving Mako increasingly annoyed.

At the end of the age of waiting, the traffic finally relented, giving way from annoyance back to what could be called happiness. And he was right to be happy.

Hearing that the finals match was cancelled, only for the chief of police to personally oppose that decision? He called that a definite win, one he would be very pleased to tell Asami about.

Speaking of which, he finally reached the hail point. A bright yellow cab weaved towards him, navigating the flow of traffic with professional ability. The driver, his face hidden under a wide brimmed hat, wordlessly opened the passenger door, he climbed in, handing a pile of yuans to his outstretched hand, which held an impressive array of criss-crossing scars on its surface.

He shut the door behind him, supporting his cheek with a closed hand as he stared out of the window. "Central City station." The car pulled back into the lane, fitting in behind a gaudy roadster, which sported an over-sized back fin. It reminded him of Asami's competitors at the drag racing track. And how they lost pretty badly.

As it went down Yamuna street, cutting past the eastern marketplace where Bolin kept buying those excellent rice balls from, he saw shopkeepers peddling their wares, street performers displaying incredible feats of the bending arts, buskers producing impossible amounts of noise, and all of this was surrounded by throngs of people from all nations, and – something he didn't want to see – pairs of dark clothed men and women, all with the same mark somewhere on them: a blood red circle.

His view shifted, leaving the open atmosphere of the markets and changing to a line of shoved-together apartments, with clotheslines connecting to the opposite windows; some of them weighed down by kids hanging off of them.

The taxi turned left, stopping abruptly as a pickup truck laden down with packed goods careened past. The driver grumbled, and kept going, turning onto a four lane road that ran straight for as far as he could see. Hogging one side of the road was a massive open space, upon which a huge golden statue stood, it depicted a armored figure, holding a raging flame in his right hand. The right side of the statue's face was mostly darker in coloration then the rest. People sat on benches below it, acting as if they _weren't _underneath a massive golden statue of the previous fire lord.

He thanked the driver, receiving cold silence in return. As soon as he cleared the car, it sped off back into the traffic, disappearing almost instantly despite there being only ten cars or so on the road.

He stood there for a moment, trying to decide which of the three massive double doors would be closest to platform four. He walked past the massive statue, passing a old man along the way. As he approached a pair of double doors he thought about the odd facial marking over his right eye? Maybe it was some strange colonial tradition. He shrugged as he walked, deciding it really wasn't worth his time.

Once inside the gargantuan building, he found his platform. He briskly walked over to it, standing next to a group of people wearing strange masks. They all looked at him in unison. The largest of them, wearing a boar mask, even waved. He returned the wave awkwardly, before averting his eyes and shuffling a little away from them. The welcome whine of steam escaping through a arriving train's smokestack couldn't come quick enough, he moved to the door on the last carriage, taking a corner seat. A few minutes later the conductor boarded the train, with the doors closing shut behind him.

Another whine of steam and the carriages pulled away from the station, being pulled along the tracks by a black engine car, a cityscape of buildings of all shapes and sizes passed by, the tracks soon led past a massive rectangular building, several stories high with smokestacks on each corner, belching pollution into the sky, obscuring the sun as the train passed by.

He heard the clickety-clack of the train's wheels slow as they neared the station, coming to a complete stop. A door at the front of the carriage opened, and the conductor blew his whistle. "Sato Station!"

Mako got up, going through the now open doors nearby. He stepped out onto a concrete platform, walking past a line of sparsely occupied seats covered by a corrugated metal shelter. He headed down a ramp going to street level, being greeted with a welcome sight at the bottom.

A absolutely beautiful girl waited on a bench nearby, her amber eyes practically sparkling as she smiled. She stood up, and hugged him. "Hey sweetie!"

"Morning, beautiful." Mako's face cracked into a gigantic grin as she nestled into his shoulder.

She like that as they walked away from the station. "Psyched about tonight?"

He smiled, feeling confident about his team's abilities. "Definitely." he grabbed her hand, and they headed in the direction of the factory.

"So how did you get the council to reconsider about tonight?" she asked, her eyes curious as they looked at him with wonder and love.

He chuckled. "Oh, actually it was Chief Beifong who told them to reconsider, she's a scary lady."

Asami seemed to shiver a little at the mention of her name. "um, yeah." she said with, her eyes darting away.

Mako chuckled again. "Wait, she didn't catch you racing in the streets by any chance?"

She laughed nervously. "Yeah, maybe."

"I'm surprised she didn't tell Hiroshi."

"She nearly did, I managed to talk her out of it though."

"Natural charm?" he asked, as the girl rolled her beautiful eyes at him.

"Works on you, so yes."

He shrugged. "I'm not the best example."

"How about your brother?"

He thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, he can be a bit of a sucker sometimes."

Asami laughed and Mako smiled. "So what's your father next great invention after the Satomobile?" he teased.

"He calls it a air-mover."

"Sounds ominous."

"He wants to study how air-bending works so he can make a flying automobile. He's been pestering Councilman Tenzin for days."

"I'm positive that will end well." he sighed, liking that his hand lay undisturbed over her shoulders.

They stopped talking, falling into a type of silence known only to young couples as they entered the massive factory, taking a metal staircase welded to the wall nearby. The stairs turned left onto a narrow walkway, which led to a fairly modest office which oversaw the factory floor below. Mako opened the door for Asami, letting her through before him. As Asami walked over to the old man looking out the window he closed the door with a soft click.

The man turned around and smiled. "My boy! How are you today?" He walked towards his desk, flicking a strange wooden bird, it's weighted head bobbed up and down into a cup of water, appearing to drink it.

He grinned. "Fine Mr. Sato. All ready to take down the Wolf bats tonight."

The barrel-chested man threw his arms wide open as he sat down on a very tall leather chair. "Excellent! Cheaters like them don't deserve the prize pot!"

Mako raised a eyebrow. "Cheaters? They've been defending champions of the tournament for three years now, sir."

Hiroshi wagged his finger at the boy. "Paying off the refs won't get them the win this time."

"I'll be careful then, Sir." Mako promised, getting a thoughtful look on his features. Searching for a topic so as to keep the conversation alive, his eyes drifted over to a complicated drawing of a flying apparatus. "That's a interesting concept."

Mr Sato looked perplexed for a moment, before turning his chair around to follow Mako's gaze. "Oh! That! It's going to be my latest invention!"

"You dazzle us all with your genius sir." he said dryly, smiling to mean well.

"I do, don't I?" the man had a cat-like grin on him as he laughed.

Asami chuckled as she joined them. "Father, you can't take all the credit, what about that man that helped you when you were a boy?"

He looked abashed. scratching his head. "Yes right, I'll never forget him. Helped make all of this possible."

"Who was he?" Mako asked, curious to know how the brilliant inventor got his start.

"A traveler, he was passing through my village when I offered to shine his shoes. He declined and well...that all led to this. Slammed that damn boomerang on my head a few times to get the message through." he had a warm, wistful look in his eyes as he gestured at everything around them. "Changed the world he did.", he shook his head and clapped his hands. "Well! Enough about that! What are you planning to do today my boy!"

Mako rubbed his neck. "I was actually...uh...thinking of doing some things with Asami today."

"Good, she does need to get out more..." he grinned, rubbing his chin as he looked at Asami.

"Dad!" she complained, folding her arms and looking at him disapprovingly.

He held his hands in a defensive stance. "Go have fun with Mako, darling!"

She shook her head with a smirk, and went to his side, giving him a peck on the cheek. "I'll see you later then." she held her arm out to Mako, which he took gently.

And they left the office, leaving the philanthropist to his machinations.

* * *

_Air Temple Island._

The massive sky bison yawned as it descended towards a traditional collection of buildings, landing next to a still pond laying in front of a huge collection of buildings, all nestled inside a large square , on the balcony facing the landing bison, a fairly short women, dressed in bright orange and yellow robes, was hanging up clothing, mostly consisting of the same robes. She waved to Tenzin as she went back inside, one hand on the small of her back.

Tenzin released Oogi's reins, and slid gracefully down his flank. He grabbed his feed bag, filled to the brim with nuts, plants, and bits of fruit. He stood in front of Oogi as he ate from the bag, almost emptying the thing in five mouthfuls. Korra slid down after him, and stumbled back as a orange blur smacked into her. A fleshy bald head, two bushy eyebrows, and small brown eyes appeared.

"Meelo, stop attacking her."

The child halted for a bit, before headbutting her knee. "I'm a wolf-bat, I'll beat you all, and claim the pro-bending title!" his roar was heard by barely anyone as he continued his assault. Even though his blows were great and many, the avatar in training managed to push through them, striding forwards easily as he wrapped himself around her leg.

Tai slid down the bison, holding his sword and scabbard, wrapped in grey cloth. And stood there, looking a bit lost. Bewildered too. Meelo peered at him, and ran under Korra's legs, coming to a halt in front of the boy. Like the finger of fate, Meelo pointed at him, and didn't move a muscle or blink for that matter.

A young girl walked out from the house, holding a open book in one hand as she waved to her father with the other. She didn't bat an eyelid as she glanced at what her younger brother was doing. "Morning, Daddy!" she said cheerfully.

Tenzin folded the bag neatly, placing it over a hook on Oogi's saddle. "Hello, Jinora." once he had stepped back from the bison's mouth, he noticed what his youngest son doing. "Meelo, your arm will get tired."

Meelo didn't seem to hear him, committed to being as still as a statue in his constant vigilance of the newcomer.

Almost afraid to tear his eyes away from the little boy's stare, Tai turned his head towards Tenzin, desperate for a way out. His new mentor shook his head sadly, and headed inside with Jinora. Korra had a curious mix of concern and amusement on her as she watched the two of them.

Cautiously, he bent down to place his sword on the ground, keeping eye contact with the little boy at all times he reached into a pocket on his coat, bringing out a small cracked white marble. He had no idea where it came, but it would do the trick as he slowly rose his arm up, keeping his gaze on Meelo. The boy's head twitched a little as he saw the movement. Next he raised his other arm, before bringing them together, placing his right hand just over his left.

He concentrated, whipping the air between his palms into a disc that spun noisily. He grinned at the boy and kept going.

The boy finally relented, his mouth hanging open in awe. He giggled and ran inside, leaving a very perplexed expression on Tai. "Huh."

Korra walked over to him, her arms crossed. "What is it?"

"I was told I was the last." he murmured, staring in wonder at the massive spire rising up in front of him, and seeing a great herd of bison's lift off from their grazing fields, and float over the tops of the trees.

"So did Tenzin." she gave him a smile, a little unsure as to who told him that even though the Air Nomads were alive and well in Republic City as Tenzin's Air Disciples.

Her comment made the boy pause. He was silent, suddenly very unsure of what to do. She tapped his shoulder, shaking him out of his thoughts as she stuck a thumb at the open doorway nearby. "Let's go inside. I think breakfast is up."

"Yeah..."

* * *

_Republic City Park._

Pabu's head popped out of his bag of corn bits, nibbling on a stolen piece as he wrapped himself around Bolin's neck. He leant back on a park bench, watching the scenery and animals around him. Occasionally his hand dipped into the corn bits, throwing a few into his mouth.

He noticed two girls walk past, they both saw him as well and waved excitedly. They called out to him. "Good luck Bolin!"

"I'll go easy on them!"

They giggled as they left, bringing a cheeky smile to Bolin's lips.

A particularly beauteous bush moved slightly nearby. He glanced at it, with an eyebrow raised. Pabu unwrapped himself and ran down his front, moving towards the bush with abandon. He raised himself up a bit, trying to sniff the nearest leaf .

The bush moved again, and Pabu wasn't quick enough. A gnarled hand shot out of the leafy depths, grabbing the fire ferret and disappearing with a rustle of leaves. The bush laughed with the voice of an old man.

"Dinner!" it exclaimed before pausing."Wait...Pabu?" the bush purred as it moved violently. And Bolin walked over just as a old vagabond popped out of it.

"Hey Gommu." he said cheerily, excited to see an familiar face.

The man had a gummy smile on him as Pabu wrapped around his neck, enjoying the lavish attention he on the receiving end of. "How've you been, Bo'?"

"Great! We're close to getting the prize money. With Korra's help." he sighed happily at his own words, thoughts of the spectacular girl overwhelming him and threatening to put stars in his eyes.

"Ah I met her a while back, she's a nice girl." He rubbed his belly. "Gave me a fish."

The boy sighed again as those images of her resurface, giving him a warm feeling of joy. "Yeah she's great. Awesome with pro-bending, funny, bright and..." he trailed off, his dreamy tone dropping away.

Gommu leaned towards him and winked. "Beautiful?" he interrupted.

Bolin threw his hands up in alarm. "A great friend!" He quickly added, cursing that his cheeks reddened so easily.

"Bo', I've been around for a while, I can see _it_." the hobo cackled as he wagged his finger.

"Well I'm not going to ruin anything by asking her." he paused. "Yet, anyway."

"So, Gommu, what do you think of the Wolf-bats?" He asked innocently.

"Cheaters. People like that don't stay at the top for long."

"So you think we'll win?"

"Eh, what an old hobo thinks doesn't matter. Just get out there and win for yourself."

"As usual Gommu, you stun me with your words of wisdom."

"I'm a natural stunner!"

He looked down at his watch, only to find it was 3:30 already and scratched the back of his head. "Damn, I've got to gotta head home and get ready!" he turned to walk down the path leading out of the park. He stopped and turned around to give the wise old hob his bag of corn. "Here."

"Oh, thanks kid. Good luck at the game!" He gave Pabu a scratch on the chin. "See ya, little guy!" he said with a cheery smile.

Pabu purred and chittered as Bolin turned to head back to the hail point. He glanced back, seeing the vagabond dive back into his meticulously well kept bush.

Shaking his head he continued forwards, passing food vendors and performers as he went, occasionally he gave them a few coins, confident that he wouldn't miss them. A mid afternoon breeze ran over him, making him shiver little as he thought longingly of buying that brown and pale green long coat he saw in Kalik's clothing store.

The greenery ended abruptly, giving way to a road ahead of him, a few automobiles used the privileged track, while alongside them rickshaws and bikes that far outnumbered them waited and moved back and forth. He hadn't needed to wait for long, when a eye searingly yellow cab pulled up in front of him. He climbed in, glancing at the driver and noticing how wide the man's hat was, enough to cover his face in darkness.

The driver's open hand hovered in front of him. Bolin rummaged through his coin pouch, fishing out a few silver yuans. He deposited them in the driver's hand, and it snapped back, expertly placing the coins in a box before settling back on the wheel.

He looked at the mirror, watching the man's - _unsettling _- eyes bore into him, which made him speak quickly. "The pro-bending arena - uh - thank you Yue bay. Heh."

The car rocked slightly as it shifted into motion, the man deftly guiding it into a space in the traffic. He relaxed for a bit. Watching the sun slowly dip down under the horizon. Soon enough the massive green sea flashing by was awash with bright orange sunlight, as the day began to turn to night. He scratched Pabu absent mindedly. He watched the scenery of tall apartments, squat little stores, and the distant soaring spires of the Ta-Shan towers pass by quickly, then at a crawl as the car began to slow down.

He craned his head, seeing with dread the massive line of cars ahead of them. And how it _wasn't _moving. He sighed and tipped his head back, eye's closing as he decided to nap for a bit...

The car horn blared, waking him violently. He glanced at the mirror, dreading his mistake as the driver's eyes bore into his soul. He quickly got out of the car, barely getting his foot out before it sped off to rejoin the flow of cars. Pabu yawned and stretched as he lay on his shoulders.

He made his away across the pier, moving out of the way as workers and laborers prepared the grounds for tonight. A few called out encouragements to him, which he took in stride, while a minority heckled him, trying to psyche him out before the game. When did that ever work? He entered the golden building through the main entrance, the sounds of his feet on the plush red carpet carrying through the cavernous lobby. He headed past the empty ticketing booth, going down the main corridor that ran the perimeter of the structure.

The corridor turned as it met the building's corner, and he continued forwards. He saw doors on either side of him, set into the walls. After passing a heavy pair of brown doors that led to the arena proper, he took the stairs next to them, going up five flights of stairs before reaching the top floor. The corridor up here mirrored the main one below, but wasn't nearly as ostentatious, the walls had thick cables running along them, and the wooden planks that made up the floor creaked with almost every step.

The entrance to one of the bay-side corner towers lay down to his right. He reached it, unlocking the wooden door with his key. Pushing it open he stepped through, finding himself in front of a sturdy ladder. He climbed up, with Pabu clinging to his shoulders for balance. He came to a hatch, opening it with a click.

His head poked above the wooden flooring of the attic, almost level with the couches across from him. He continued climbing for a bit before lifting himself off from the ladder and stepping down onto the floorboards. He flopped down onto the end of a couch, wondering what he was going to do for an hour so before the others met him at their ready room.

The boy made his decision quickly and stood up to make his way towards the ladder heading back down, locking it behind him. Reaching the bottom of the little tower he headed straight, going for a massive staircase that went down deeper then the six floors, ending at a huge sliding door.

He pushed it aside, stepping into the gym. He went over to a brown sack sitting next to a bench close by. He hefted it without too much effort over his shoulder, walking carefully to the center of one of the pale red training spaces. He dropped it and some for its contents fell out of the open top. Brown discs about the size of Bolin's fist tumbled out, each one with a square hole punching through the center.

* * *

_Air Temple Island, Republic City._

Korra had her cheek nestled against her palm as she leaned against the balcony, her elbow propped up on the rail and her other arm resting on its surface. She glanced to her side at the setting sun as its rays left a hefty touch of soft pink hues across the sky and its clouds, some of them managing a warm orange.

She looked away from one of Republic City's world renowned sunsets to the island of golden light staring at her from across the bay, connected to the metropolis by a massive boardwalk currently seeing a lot of use as the pro-bending match everyone had their sights on was about to begin.

Her match alongside Bolin and Mako against the Wolfbats. And her chance to rough up that pretty boy's wimpy face a little.

The sound of Ikki and Meelo's combined laughter lifting up from below drew her attention, and she peered over the railing's edge to see the two of them alternating their attempts at terrorizing the island's latest live-in.

Now that he wasn't cooped up in a interview room at Police Headquarters or in the midst of unleashing a combined firestorm and hurricane that tore down a warehouse, he looked relatively normal. At least for someone who just tried to kill the Equalist's leader.

Briefly she found her fist clenching slightly at the dark memory, plagued by the crowd of ghostly green lenses lit by flashes of desperate fire and dancing around crumbling earth.

Amon could have taken whatever he wanted from her. But he didn't. He said he was leaving her for last.

Last after what?

"You probably have a few questions for me."

The grim white mask looming large in her thoughts washed away. She glanced over her shoulder at Tenzin as he stopped just in the doorway to straighten his sleeves. "Why did you offer to let him stay on the island?"

"He needs training. Just like you do." Tenzin stopped by her side, hands clasped behind his back as he surveyed the island and kept a eye on his children as they hounded the boy. "You saw what he did at the warehouse."

Her eyes narrowed as a shiver went down her spine, for a moment being back in that warehouse, frozen to the spot as Amon lunged at her with the sword "Yeah. I did."

"Then you know that he needs guidance." Tenzin's eyes darted away for a moment and Korra nearly didn't catch it. "I also owe it to him. I promised his mother that I would."

Korra raised a eyebrow and glanced at her master, before looking back down at Tai as he started to get a handle on the twin whirlwinds of terror that were Meelo and Ikki. "His mother? You know his parents? Who are they?"

"His mother used to be a student of mine several years ago. And his father..." Tenzin trailed off for a moment as he stroked his beard. "I guess you could say he was my bodyguard for a while."

"Okay, what?" Korra folded her arms and looked at him askew with a smirk, trying her hardest to imagine the stoic and patient airbender as the type of guy who got in everyone else's business so much that he needed protection. "You needed a bodyguard? I didn't know it was even possible for a Air Nomad to make enemies."

"Well, it was a bit more complicated than that. His mother wanted him safe and the island was the best place for him so..." his eyebrow twitched at Korra's attempt to rein in her smirk. "Why am I even telling you this? Its ancient history!" He sighed in frustration before looking at a nearby clock. "Back to the present, your match starts soon."

Korra shook her head in amusement before nodding, looking down at Tai as he beamed after successfully contained Meelo and Ikki. "I've still got some time before it starts. Enough for a little practice."

* * *

A little brown radio sat on a table nearby, blaring music through its tinny speakers. It watched as two teens faced each other, the girl on the left holding a leather ball in her hands. She threw the heavy brown ball at him, catching him on the chest as he attempted a dodging spin to the right. He staggered back, losing his footing as his balance was knocked off. He grunted as he caught the ball before it dropped to the stone brickwork.

"So that's zone 3?" he asked.

She nodded with a smirk visible behind her helmet's faceplate. "Yeah, usually the round's lost by that point." she twisted out of the way of his toss effortlessly. "Unless _I'm _on the team."

He nodded rigidly, settling into a low stance as he waited for the next throw. "I guess the wolf bats won't have a chance tonight huh?" he pulled his right foot back, presenting the side of his body briefly before leaning back with his arms stretched out in front of him. The ball slammed into his hands, spinning him a little as he took the strain.

The girl held her arms out, waiting for his throw. "You can count on that." she grunted a little as the ball caught her on the shoulder, before she was able to dodge in time. She yelped a little rubbed the shoulder it hit, throwing him a dark look.

A smug grin answered her. "Going by what your saying, these wolf-bat guys sound dodgy. I'd expect a lot of dirty tricks tonight if I were you."

"I'll take it under _advisement_." her eyes were narrowed as she spun the ball around, passing it behind and around her body to keep the boy guessing.

He shrugged. "Sound advice."

She gave him the stink-eye, pointing her pinky and index at him at the same time.

The ball continued it's journey back and forth between them, their throws becoming more and more elaborate. Their dodges more akin to dance moves. Korra moved like water to avoid his throws, and surged forward with a powerful one of her own, she dealt in decisive and practical throws, although they still had a little flair to them.

Tai was a little different, he bent every which way possibly to dodge, while managing to stay in the exact same spot, only needing to dodge to the side when Korra threw it at his sensitive parts. That was survival instinct right there. When he acted he did it with a flurry, using quick throws and tosses, often feinting a throw to catch her off-guard. He was a lot more agile then she was.

"Right! Bending time!" Korra shouted suddenly, chucking the ball to the side and stomping her right foot. A chunk of earth rose up in front of her, and she punched forwards, sending it flying at Tai's chest.

"Wha-" the missile exploded into dust as it impacted, sending him flying back three meters, tumbling to the ground. He coughed and sputtered as he got back up, only for a glob of water to be flung towards him. He reacted, dodging to the side, unleashing a flurry of air punches.

Korra had to dodge them, and couldn't send any more attacks against him. A kick of air got her in the stomach, causing her to stumble back. She recovered quickly, sidestepping and summoning a ball of fire in front of her right fist. She threw it forwards, and it roared towards his legs.

He hopped over it, and dropped low, sending a sweeping gust of air at her feet. A wall of earth rose up in front of it, causing it to dissipate quickly. He sprang up, catching a earthen disk in the chest, nearly knocking him off of his feet. He recovered, spinning around and sweeping his arms out in front of him to sending several powerful bursts of winds at her. She had difficulty dodging them, her eyes darting frantically as they tried to locate the masses of air.

The first one buffeted her side, sending her spinning to the left a bit. She regained her balance, and saw the second one coming at her. She rolled to the side, springing up and unleashing a flurry of water missiles.

They smacked into him all at once, sending him rolling back. Korra grinned and swung her arm upwards, merging the separate parts into a single whole, it rocketed up into his chin, putting him down for the count. She stood there, a hand on her hip as her chest heaved. He groaned as he found out for the umpteenth time why the body doesn't appreciate rough treatment.

"You had me going for a bit there." He heard her as if she was far away, and speaking through a three-thick layer of canvas padding.

The act of seeing hurt a lot, so he kept his eyes shut for a bit, moaning pitifully. Her hand appeared above him and he accepted it, grunting painfully as he raised his hand to grab hers. Fleetingly, he thought back to being thrown against a window, but immediately dispelled it.

Korra had a smile on her and a twinkle in her eye as he managed to stand, swaying unsteadily. "Did that hurt?"

"Oh no, things get thrown at me all the time, water won't get me down." He doubled over in pain. "Owwwww."

She laughed, giving him a slap on the back. "I hit hard, remember that."

"Will do."

The music on the radio faded away, replaced by a cherry voice. "Hello, Republic City! Lan here with the latest updates from all over town!"

As it droned on about rumors, mysterious sightings, and stories of fantastic weapons that can throw fire mechanically, they tossed the ball between them absent mindedly.

"-and it's coming up to 5:00PM, so better get ready! The game tonight's to die for." The voice changed into a cacophony of instruments and sounds.

"Damn. I've got to get going. Thanks for helping me train."

"No problem."

"You coming to watch tonight?" she asked, suddenly, strangely, curious to know if he would be going or not.

He hesitated, not knowing how to deal with something like this. He found his eyes wandering all over the place as he searched for an answer, and he fought to stop them from settling on her chest. "Uh, sure!"

"Great!"

They heard a commotion in the house. "Meelo! You give that back right now!" a stern voice said.

The younger voice said something entirely different. "Vroom-vroom! Gliding!"

Tai felt apprehension for what was about to come barreling out of that doorway. Meelo ran outside, hefting a orange and red glider above his head. He ran in circles, making strange noises.

Tai sighed and made a gesture with his hand. The glider floated away from the boy's grasp over to his. Tenzin came storming out towards them, his eyes focusing on Meelo. He stopped abrubtly, noticing the glider wasn't with his youngest son.

The bald boy's eyes began to water, and his lip quivered as he realized what had happened. The waterworks began, starting up with a bawling whimper and cruising with a ear piercing wail.

Tenzin winced, trying to think of something that would calm him down. He looked to Tai and suddenly got an idea in his head. He drew himself up to his full height, adopting a stern face, and sent a gust of air at his student's chest.

As the blast approached him, realization dawned in Tai's mind. "Oh reall-" the glider clattered to the ground as the wind slammed into the boy, sending him rolling back three meters. He managed to get his hands untangled from his body, and quickly pushed himself out of the roll with a gust of air.

He alighted back onto his feet, giving Tenzin a very dirty look. His new master shrugged. "Just testing your reflexes, _needs a bit of work_."

Tai opened his mouth to say something when Korra spoke up. "Ready to go, Tenzin?"

"Indeed Korra. I'll be ready soon." he inclined his head.

He had a question to ask. "Don't suppose I can come along?"

His chances burned when Tenzin immediately looked at him. "Absolutely not. You need to stay here for a while."

"Why?"

"So Amon can't find you, and so you can't get up to any trouble." he explained, about to turn around to head back inside before he noticed the dark look on the boy.

"What makes you think _he_ is looking for me?" Tai growled.

"You infiltrated a heavily guarded compound and managed to strike at him, that's something for him to consider." he said matter-of-factly.

Inside he agreed, he was right. Still didn't like it though. "Good point." he said, sighing as his shoulders sagged. He looked at Korra. "Guess I have other plans Korra. Sorry."

"Not to worry, you'll have Meelo and the two girls for company." she chuckled as she took off the helmet, slapping a few strands of rebellious hair down as she fixed him with a smirk.

Sarcasm was on the boy's mind. "_Yay_."

Tenzin came back outside, being dragged down by a young, brown haired girl tugging on his arm and planting her heels in the dirt to stop him from shaking her off. "Why can't I come Daddy?" she whined

He sighed, "Because I'm only going as the city council's representative."

"You told me it was to keep Korra out of trouble." Jinora lowered the thick book as she walked towards them, giving her dad a cheery smile.

"And to do that as well, Jinora. And that is why you can't come, Ikki." he sighed as the child nodded rigidly. She scrunched her face up in annoyance, and crossed her arms with an disappointed groan. Tenzin patted his daughter on the head and gestured for Korra. "Time to go."

The bison rumbled as Tenzin and Korra climbed onto its saddle. With a whoosh of air it ascended , and flew away from the little island, and towards the bright beacon that was the pro bending arena. The three siblings looked after them for a while, watching the flying Bison become smaller and smaller as it neared the mainland.

Suddenly they all looked at Tai, who felt very self conscious and decided he would love the _indoors_.Before he could move Ikki ran towards his legs, poking and prodding them as she held a curious look on her face. Meelo picked his nose as he watched him. Jinora chuckled as she held the book back up, settling onto a rock nearby despite him giving her a desperate look. Help.

* * *

潮


	3. Devastation

潮

* * *

_Air Temple Island._

"Ow." said the enigmatic teenage prodigy, making his discontent perfectly clear that this was _not_ how he thought his first day on the island would turn out.

"WHEEE-AHHHHH!" shouted the hyperactive and constantly moving toddler, deafening Tai's ears a little.

"This is fun!" said his older yet equally hyperactive sister, from her perch wrapped around one of his legs.

Meelo was perched on the older boy's shoulders, his short legs dangling in front of him as he held onto fistfuls of the boy's hair trying to steer him around like a car. Tai was slightly hunched over and was too overpowered to resist. Mainly because of the little girl wrapped around his left shin.

Jinora sat cross-legged on a flat rock nearby, flipping over another page in her book as she chuckled to herself.

As he was spun around by the two children, he threw a dirty glance at Jinora. "I- agh -see you won't help in any way?"

"They like you, and it's fun to watch." as she said this, she tilted her head slowly to the side, adopting a cat-like grin that betrayed the cunning evil within.

"Why does this happen to me?" he groaned, wondering is it really was a good idea to accept the old guy's invitation.

Meelo slapped him in the head, bringing him out of his thought with grumbled and glared at the boy as best he could. "You're an airbender, why aren't you having fun!"

"I have different ideas of fun, _Meelo_." the child laughed as his grip tightened on Tai's hair.

The girl clinging onto his leg looked up at him, a question forming. "Yeah, you aren't very fun!"

"I can be fun! Just let me go and I'll show you my kind of _fun_." h put on a cheery smile as thoughts of violence of mayhem ran through him.

They momentarily stopped what they were doing, and looked at each other, the boy sighed, glad the ordeal was over. But it wasn't to be, suddenly the assault renewed, and he had to grit his teeth and bare it.

"Kids! Dinner!" a voice called from inside the main building. They dropped from him instantly, running towards the warm glow of the house's interior.

Jinora closed the book and got off the rock, walking after them. "Come on, Tai."

He dusted himself off, gingerly rubbing the spots of abuse where Meelo had purchase as he followed her into a narrow hall, with the floor made of polished wooden boards. The walls were a warm creamy white with dark brown beams lining them. He followed Jinora through a sliding door left of the entrance outside, walking into a large rectangular space with the central part of the floor covered by a low-lying table, currently Pema and the two younger siblings were sitting at it. In front of them was a massive bowl of broth, with chunks of vegetables and meat lazily drifting on its surface as they traced hazy lines.

Meelo was staring at the massive bowl, while Pema was busy spooning it out to their bowls. Jinora slid her bowl over to it, and Tai did the same uncertainly. Once all bowls were full, she filled her own, sighing with content as she sat back down onto her seat. Meelo slurped his soup noisily, getting a few laughs from Ikki, who was busy dissolving pieces of bread into hers.

Jinora sipped hers gracefully, Tai was cautious, taking a few spoonfuls every now and then. He watched as Jinora broke off a piece of bread, dunking it into her bowl and chewing at the end.

"Jinora, can you pass the bread?" he asked quietly, not wanting to raise his voice in the quiet room.

She nodded cheerily and slid the loaf over to him, he grabbed the knife laid next to his bowl and cut off a moderate slice of the loaf. He slid it back to its original position, then folded his slice and dunked it into his bowl to let it begin soaking up the juice.

"Hey Tai, how'd you get to republic city?" he stopped, spoon raised halfway to his waiting mouth. Jinora had put down her book, and was looking at him with curiosity.

"I walked." he explained with as few words as possible, trying to signal that she should probably ask him questions about other stuff. Like airbending. He knew a lot about airbending.

"Where from?" she asked, this time tilting her head and giving him a curious grin.

"The Kamang mountains, up north." he answered, thankful for something that he could answer.

"Wait, you walked all of that way?" Ikki interrupted, her hands on the table as she stared at him, a bajillion questions about to come spewing out.

"Pretty much, stopped at a few villages and towns along the way when I couldn't go any further."

"So why did you come?" Jinora asked, continuing her interrogation of him.

"I'm looking for someone." he said with a frosty tone, trying to get her to drop the questions.

Pema noticed this and fixed her oldest daughter with a cheery grin. "I think that's enough for now sweetie. Maybe he'll tell you later. _Ask nicely_."

"Okay mom!" she said brightly, going back to her soup in an instant.

The knots in Tai's stomach released a little as she stopped questioning him. Good, don't want to get into that now, possibly never.

They all continued eating, moments of quietness punctuated by Meelo or Ikki laughing as they made a mess or funny shape with their bread. Pema sighed as she watched them do this, a tired smile on her face. With a clatter Meelo had finished his bowl, smacking his lips and running off goodness knows where. Ikki followed him, presumably to watch his antics.

She sighed again as Jinora and Tai finished their bowls. "I've got to teach them how to sit still."

Jinora grinned at her over the top of the book. "Mom, I don't think that's possible."

She sighed even more despondently. "I know."

Tai had emptied his bowl, and deposited the knife and spoon in it, placing them on top of the plate that had held his slices. "I'll help clean up." He offered.

"Oh. Thanks Tai." she beamed as he placed her bowl on top of the stack. Jinora offered Pema her empty bowl and plate, helping her gather Ikki and Meelo's into a stack. Tai placed his on top, and grabbed the whole thing.

Jinora went to leave the room. "That was good soup mom."

"Thanks honey."

She disappeared into the main hallway, heading upstairs to her room.

"Where can we clean these?" he asked, keeping a careful eye on the swaying stack.

"Follow me." Pema walked off through a doorway in the other direction, with Tai trailing behind trying to balance the pile. It opened onto another hallway, this one much smaller than the other one, close by was a sliding door, which she slid open and headed through. Tai followed her into a kitchen area, the walls had brown wooden panelling and the room was dominated by two long benchs, a shorter one ran parallel to them, a sink built into it. She turned the hot tap, opening the pipes for hot water to stream through, coming out of the tap and splashing down onto the bottom of the basin. She grabbed a cloth.

"Over here Tai." She pointed to a space on the bench left of the sink. Tai nodded, carefully placing the pile down, quickly stopping the bowl on top from falling off. She took it from him and placed it under the running water, washing the dregs of soup into the drain. She placed it on the rack that dominated the right of the sink.

Tai grabbed a tea towel from a hanger nearby and wiped it all over the bowl, drying up excess liquid and it leaving dry and ready to go back into the cupboard.

"Thanks for the help, Tai."

"Don't worry about it, I'm usually stuck doing it wherever I go." he said, quickly realizing that he was being drawn into revealing stuff about his past again. He quickly changed the topic. "So, your fourth child?"

"Yes, I've got my fingers crossed she won't be a bender." she admitted, grunting a little as she moved the wrong way. He glanced at her with a worried look before she smiled reassuringly.

He nodded and accepted the next bowl from her, swishing the tea towel inside it as he arched an eyebrow. "What's wrong with bending?"

"Nothing!" She said quickly, before letting off a little sigh. "Well, having three kids who control the wind can be very stressful sometimes."

"That's a good point." he conceded, placing the bowl on the counter, ready to go back in the cupborad.

"Tenzin said that too." she chuckled.

"So…know what I can expect from him in training?"

She finished rinsing a spoon under the hot blast of water, and placed it on the sink in front of him. She smirked as she glanced at him. "Lots of bruises, lots of broken bones, and tears."

The boy shrugged. "I've dealt with it before." he said, getting a strange look in his eye. He shook it off as she glanced at him with concern.

"I thought you would have."

"Yeah." he murmured.

They continued washing the bowls and cutlery in silence, punctuated by Tai opening the cabinet nearby to place them in. He heard Pema curse softly. "We left the soup pot on the table, Tai can you please empty it outside and bring it back to me?"

"Sure can." he placed the tea towel on the counter as he took a few steps towards the door, before she spoke up again.

"Don't take too long."

"Okay." he closed the cupboard, placing the tea towel near Pema. He walked back into the dining room towards the table. He grabbed the heavy soup bowl with a grunt, and held it flat in front of him. Slowly, he walked out into the main corridor, going back outside.

The stars were shining now, and studded the black night sky as they twinkled with a brilliance quite unlike anything else. He ignored the spectacle and focused on tipping the soup into a drain nearby. As the soup fell past the thick iron grates he heard a chattering sound nearby. He turned to look at the commotion, noticing a small white creature sitting on the ground nearby, watching him with massive green eyes. It had massive ears which hung to its waist, and it sniffed the sweet aroma of the soup being tipped with a tiny black nose. It moved forward a bit on two thin and long arms, resting on its knuckles.

Tai shrugged and stopped tipping the soup away. Better it goes to someone in need than down the drain he reasoned. He set the bowl down in front of his feet, and nudged it gently towards the small creature. It sniffed vigorously and eyed him for a split second before dashing forward, lapping at the warm mixture and chattering loudly.

He leant back against a corner support, watching the stars while waiting for his furry friend to finish his job for him. He hadn't had a chance to stop and actually think about where he was until now. He was certainly in a better way than before, now he actually had a place to stay, a teacher to train with, and dare he say it, people who'd back him up. He wasn't sure, but he thought he made a friend in Jinora, Pema, and Korra. And he was intent on keeping it going.

And yet… he still wasn't satisfied, he hadn't done what he came to the city for, the bastard was still breathing, and Tai knew he wouldn't be able to rest until he had ended him. He needed training though, and he accepted that.

The bowl clattered, drawing his attention. Some of the soup was left behind, making Tai shrug. He picked it up, tipping the remainder down the drown and turning to head back inside.

A noise, or rather, the absence of noise stopped him. There was nothing, no chattering, no laughter from the sentries quarters, nothing. Just the lonely wind which blew constantly over the island. He heard a crash inside, and dropped the bowl, charging towards the warm light of the doorway. A masked figure greeted him, he didn't show his surprise, merely dropping into a sliding kick the first chance he got.

The masked man was too slow to dodge it, and was thrown to the floor; he tried to get up, warranting a punch in the face to knock him out. He recognized the green lenses and brown material. Equalists.

Stopping for a moment, he noticed the house was completely silent, not good. He ran down the hallway, turning left towards the kitchen door. He was about to enter when a arm slammed into his face, he spluttered and coughed as he tipped back, landing with a crash on his back.

Pema peered around the doorway, a look of savage triumph on her. It soon changed to a sheepish look as she realised who she hit.

As he lay there on the floor, Tai was mumbling. "How much abuse does my face need to take?..."

"Tai! Sorry about that!" she winced as she helped him up, looking a little embarassed.

"No problem happens all the time." he said quickly as his head rang. How many are there?"

"I have no clue, and I don't know where they are or what they're after."

"I'll see if I can takedown a few, Pema, can you stay here please?"

"I'm won't stay here while my kids are still out there-" she began to argue when he cut her off with a knowing smile.

"I know that, and I'll be quick." he backed out of the room and stalked back down the hallway, rubbing the large red welt on his cheek. He ran up the staircase, trying to draw attention to himself. Four corridors stretched away from him as he reached the top of the stairs. He looked down the closest one, and saw a gloved hand holding onto the open windowsill, nearly invisible against the dark treeline.

He ran forward, just as another equalist came into view, flipping over the windowsill and flinging a smoke grenade at him, he ducked as it whizzed over his head, and clattered down the other end of the hallway. Tai came back up, kicking him in the stomach, there was no reaction as the equalist grabbed his leg and spun him around, flinging him to the floor. Tai rolled quickly, watching a eskrima stick slam into the floorboards where his head was, he raised himself up and swept his leg around, catching his feet and dragging the equalist to the floor. He sprang up, and kicked the man in the face, his body went limp and he slackened.

Tai threw the door nearby open, hoping to find Jinora inside. The room was devoid of life, and with a curse he went back towards the stairs, only to see the door in the opposite hallway fling open. Another equalist was thrown into the hallway, crashing into the wall with a sigh.

Jinora flipped a loose strand of hair out of her face, holding onto a staff with other as she walked out into the hallway.

"Jinora!" he called out as he ran towards her.

"Tai! What's going on?"

"I think they're equalists. Do you know here Ikki and Meelo ran to?"

"I saw them from my window, they were going towards the training area."

Tai faltered. "Ca-can you show me?"

Jinora rolled her eyes, heading downstairs. "Come on."

Tai followed her down into the main hallway, heading past the empty dining room. They reached the front door.

"Take the left path here and keep going, you'll know its the right way when there's a bamboo forest around you, the path will open onto a clearing, that's the training area.

She took a step outside when Tai halted her. "You need to stay here with your mom."

"Ikki and Meelo are over there!" she complained, gaining a hard edge to her eyes as she looked at him.

"There's no need for you come along." he said quickly, checking the straps on his scabard.

"They're my brother and sister!" she hissed.

"You need to stay here and make sure no more equalists come in."

"I-" her protests died away as she thought rationally about it. "Alright."

Tai ran outside, "I'll be back with them soon!"

He took the path Jinora described, his breathing audible as he pumped his arms to get speed. As he ran he noticed shadowy shapes moving in the forest and landscape nearby. His eyes narrowed as he ran past the first of a massive thicket of bamboo stalks. He kept on going, following a bend in the path as it went right.

It straightened and widened into a circular space. In the open space ahead was raised circular dais, a maze of boards, decorated with ancient air nomad insignia and writing, covered the top. They were the focus of the area, and he saw three equalists advancing towards them.

Suddenly a line of gates on one side spun furiously as the air around them was whipped into a fury, it blasted outwards, catching one of them in the chest and flinging him away.

The other two equalists advanced cautiously, grabbing smoke grenades from their belts. Tai ran faster, making as much noise as possible to draw them away from the dais. The one closest to him turned around and threw the silver canister at him. He swiped his right arm outwards, using a gust of air to send the grenade tumbling away from him. The equalist ran towards him, drawing a long black staff in the process. The head of the staff was aiming for his head, he ducked, dashing forward with a blast of air for help. The staff was suddenly dropped and his side burned as he felt several jabs land in quick succession.

He growled turning towards his agile foe to direct a blast at him. His arm stung all over as his nerves felt like fire. He cried out and twisted over in pain, giving the equalist an opening to step back from him. He found himself facing the discarded staff, and went for it, throwing it at the equalist. It found nothing but air as it clattered on the ground near the other one.

He turned, distracted momentarily by the weapon. Suddenly the gates were spun around again as a massive wind-blast drove into him, picking him up and throwing him to the edge of the clearing. The boy heard a cheer come from within the forest of gates, but couldn't focus on it. The burning had died down and he sprang back up, putting his all into a massive sweeping arc of fire. It slammed into his enemy, scorching the leather armor and sending him crashing to the ground, unconscious and beaten.

His chest heaved a little as he ran towards the dais. He saw the gates starting to spin furiously again. And he held his arms up. "Guys! It's Tai!"

They slowed to a halt, and he heard a clattering and shaking as the two children came out towards him. The two of them were on edge, and he had to calm them down. "Hey." he knelt down to their height, looking them in the eyes. "It's fine, they're knocked out cold, and I think that was all of them."

He whipped his head around as he heard shouting and saw the light of a lantern cast long shadows into the bamboo stalks. Three men dressed in blue and white armor ran into the clearing, and they all had a curious look on them.

"What happened here?" the lead one, a stocky and solidly built man asked. His stern green eyes boring into Tai.

"Three of them tried to ambush Ikki and Meelo. They failed." he explained, nodding his head at the two unsconscious blockers nearby.

The short man nodded. "Police will be here soon to take them away."

"What's going on?"

"They've finally decided to break cover, key spots all over the city have reports of masked figures attacking citizens, primarily benders. Arenas been hit the hardest though."

Wait. The Arena? "I've got to get over there!" he said as he straightened.

In response, the stocky man rolled his eyes as he muttered something under his breath. He looked straight into the boy's eyes. "Unless you're a water bender, I don't see that happening, kid."

Tai rolled his eyes and walked forwards, before stopping and looking back at Meelo and Ikki. "These guys will take you to the house, Jinora and Pema are there."

"What about you?" Ikki asked.

"I've got a match to be at." he nodded to the White Lotus guards, and dashed back down the path. A million thoughts were racing through his head, most of these were centered around a burning revenge, while surprisingly a fair few were centered around concern.

He shook his head clear, trying to focus on the reason he came to the city for. He cleared the bamboo, and ran past the house. He stopped for a moment, noticing the folded glider that was leaning against a corner post. Tenzin must have left it behind. He grabbed it without a thought, and looked around for the highest point on the island. There was a massive hill that rose up nearby, casting its shadow over a meticulously kept garden.

The boy ran along a path that cut straight through the garden. And followed it up, running up the incline towards the crest of the hill. Once the ground leveled out, he found himself staring at a sea of stars above, absolutely stunning in their brilliance.

He looked out towards the bright lights of the city noticing a few plumes of smoke intermingled among the warm yellow glow. He saw the golden arena standing on the other side of a long pier from the rest of the city, hosting the largest smoke plume of all. He narrowed his eyes in concentration and shook the glider, it opened out, forming a fan like shape. At he remembered those lessons from his childhood.

Holding onto a crossbeam at the front of the glider with his right hand he ran forwards, forming a cushion of air underneath him with his left. The ground dropped away as the compressed air rushed upwards. As he began to fall back to earth he grabbed onto the glider with both hands now, and directed his bending through it.

He glided across the dark waters of yue bay, heading towards the Pro Bending Arena.

* * *

_Pro-Bending Arena._

The lower parts of the platform holding the arena were a maze of piers and tunnels, almost impossible to navigate without a map. On a walkway hugging the eastern face sat two equalists.

"Sounds pretty rough in there." Lagi said.

Maro had his arms crossed, watching the waters lap against the poles beneath them. "It does." he squinted, noticing a tiny imperfection in his view of the bay.

"He's getting serious about our goals. Had to happen sooner or later." his partner said, kicking a loose piece of wood nearby.

"Hmm." he thoughtfully answered, injecting all of his views and values into the sound.

"Did we need to do what we did back there?" Lagi asked suddenly, referring to the burning police boats that encircled the arena.

"Amon's orders. He says we do it, then we do it." he mechanically responded, not wanting to dwell on what they were forced to do to get here.

"Alright." his young partner said with a dejected tone.

The imperfection grew larger, and he thought he could see a trail of disturbed water under it.

"I should get a souvenir while I'm here, for Nari."

"Is that really a priority?" the tone of incredulity clear in his voice.

Lagi shrugged. "We are stuck watching a empty walkway."

Maro actually thought that was a good point. "Lieutenant told us to keep watch down here and we will."

"You can cover for me can't you?"

Maro sighed. "I don't think it's a good idea Lag-"

Something dropped into the water in front of them, spraying them with froth.

Lagi stopped what he was doing, and got up immediately. He looked over at Maro with a question. Maro shook his head as he walked towards the edge of the walkway, unclipping a few bolas from his belt.

The surface of the water broke, and the green goggles of the lieutenant were looking at them. The rest of his body followed, and he swam to the posts. He climbed up them with no effort, and looked at the two equalists. "We're leaving." he calmly stated.

The sound of rushing wind reached them, and as one they all turned around to face the sea. A figure hanging onto a orange wing flew towards them at a frightening speed, the glider twisted as it passed between them, heading up to the surface level of the platform.

"It's him." The lieutenant pointed upwards, and left them, running up a stairwell nearby. Maro and Lagi looked at each other, and followed him.

* * *

Tai dropped onto the pavement with a thud. He hid the glider behind an abandoned stand, and ran towards the arena. As he got closer he heard the crackle of fires burning, and screams of people trapped inside. He tried to put it out of mind, and failed. Gritting his teeth he ran alongside the side of the arena, trying to find a way up that would get him to the top of the glass dome.

He stopped as he found a way up. He saw the beginning of a balcony stretching a long way down the length of the building, with another above it doing the same thing. About seventy meters above it was the edge of the arena's roof. He used a push of air to get him within reach of the balcony, he held his arm out towards the rail lining, managing to get a good grip on it. Holding himself up with one had wasn't doable for long, so he swung himself up onto it, now hugging the rail with his entire body. He cautiously stood up, preparing to hoist himself up to the second balcony, one more push of air and he got a hold on the bottom of it. Quickly he used another push to get himself higher, tumbling awkwardly over the rail and onto the floor.

From here he had a clear way to the roof. He didn't hang around for any doors to open, he ran towards the wall and sprang upwards, his hands getting a hold on a pipe running to the top. He climbed up it, the metal clanging slightly as it held his weight. With a grunt of effort he grabbed onto the edge, dangling for a moment before he pulled himself up quietly.

He rolled before getting up, and was treated to a spectacle. Above the arena hung a airship, different in style and theme to the ones issued to the police. He guessed that it was probably stolen from them, repainted and modified enough to be a completely different variant. The balloon which held the helium mix had a crimson skin, with the equalist symbol plastered on the bottom. A steel box clung to the bottom of the baloon, and its windows glowed from the inside with warm orange light. He saw four cables dangling from it, and saw a familiar figure falling in between them towards the dome.

"Damn!" he ran towards the now broken glass dome, only to be waylaid by a familiar stinging sensation in his back, he fell forwards onto the cement, gritting his teeth in pain.

Him again. The boy rolled back up and turned around, facing the man from the steam tunnel. He ran forwards, using a blast of fire to deter a frontal hit, the masked man dodged it by rolling to the side, and drove at him with the other stick. He threw himself backwards, seeing the sparking tip of the weapon brush against his cuff. The man responded with a vicious kick to his side, and Tai tried to twist out of the way, and tried to grab his boot. He got a weak hold, and wrenched it away from him, so that it hit thin air.

The man pulled it back, now on two feet again, he used the moment to step into a half-spin, retaliating with his other foot. This one connected properly, hitting him on the chest.

The air was taken from his lungs as he was flung away by the force. He gasped for air, and moved his hands in a circular gesture, using a technique to get oxygen into him quickly. He felt a horrible drowning sensation as air was shoved down his throat. Shaking his head he got back up, and threw his arms out from him. The lieutenant had both batons at this point, and was running towards him. Tai smirked and brought them together, creating a massive blast of fire that streamed towards his foe. The Lieutenant couldn't get away in time, and was thrown five meters by the impact.

With his opponent taken care of for the moment he looked back at the airship, the cables were retracting slowly, as two blockers made a mad dash for them. He shook his head as a aching sensation made itself known and hissed as his arm began to hurt terribly, he cradled it against his chest and limped towards the dome. He looked around it, trying to find a sign of Korra. Nothing.

He saw a stairwell nearby and headed towards it. Taking the steps two at a time. The door at the bottom was locked, he growled, blowing the door off of its hinges with a uncontrolled gust of air. He stepped through, nudging aside a few fragments as he did so. The hallway it connected to was a absolute wreck, the wall that ran opposite where he stood was gone, replaced with a massive rent that revealed the support structure of the arena seats. In front of him was a bare rectangular tunnel, cutting through the seats and opening out at the other side of them. He heard a massive chorus of voices from the arena, some were crying, others were angry, and all were terrified.

He limped through the tunnel, keeping his bad arm steady as he approached the other end. He emerged from it, blinking rapidly as his eyes adjusted to the bright floodlights dominating his vision. He looked to his left, and groaned inwardly.

"Following trouble?"

The boy thought about giving her the silent treatment again, he was certain she wouldn't rough him up in public...maybe? He decided against it, couldn't be bothered. "I thought he'd be here."

"Yeah well, you just missed him, he escaped in the airship." she sighed. "He played me."

Tenzin walked over to them, with Korra following. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Lin, stop blaming yourself."

"Why not? I forced the council to make a decision, and look what happened. A damn crisis."

"We'll catch him, and put a stop to his plans."

"I was hoping for something more grounded than that." she grumbled.

"I'm a airbender, grounded is not my thing." the stoic man fought to keep the smirk from forming, since two impressionable students of his were nearby.

"Funny, Tenzin." she made a stink face at him before looking down at the floor, her shoulders sagging as she sighed.

Tenzin looked at Tai. "I thought I told you to stay on the island?"

"The equalists were there-" Tenzin tried to interrupt. "-They're fine. Master."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

A lance of pain drove up the boy's side. His hand shot to it as he gritted his teeth.

Korra looked concerned for a second, before giving him a smirk. "Who roughed you up on the way here?"

"Some guy who loves using sticks to hit people."

"Him? I remember kicking him off the roof. He must have climbed back up to escape, did he reach the airship?"

"Nope, I left him lying there. He'll probably be back." he sighed.

A pair of metalbenders rushed up to them. They snapped off salutes at Tenzin and Lin. "Chief, we need some assistance out there."

Lin nodded. "I'll be there shortly." She nodded goodbyes to each of them, and left with the two officers through the tunnel.

Tenzin sighed, and his shoulders dropped with weariness.

"I take it we'll be going now?"

"You take it correctly, Korra. Let's go home."

Tai spoke up as he limped back through the tunnel with them. "Had enough of this place."

* * *

Oogi landed softly, and Tenzin dismounted first. He walked around to the bison's face, patting his nose as he grabbed the reins, steering him towards a cavernous stable nearby. Pema and the kids ran out of the house.

Jinora and Ikki got to him first, wrapping around him as he stroked Oogi's fur.

"Are you all alright?" he said with worry, calming down as they both nodded vigorously.

"We're fine, Daddy." Ikki buried her face into his shin.

"Tai helped us." Jinora stated.

He waved wearily at the two of them as he stood next to Korra.

Pema smiled at Tenzin. "How about you?"

"Just a few scratches, dear."

"That's what you always say."

"It's what I always get."

She chuckled and gave him a warm hug. "I'm glad your safe."

Korra tapped Tai's shoulder, beckoning for him to follow her. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" the boy asked, giving her a compulsion to roll her eyes.

"To sleep."

"I'm sorry?" he said, trying to hide the tone of amusement.

She punched him on the shoulder. "We have separate quarters idiot."

"Awesome..." he rubbed his shoulder as she led him up the path, past the fork that led to the training area. It hugged the edge of the bamboo thicket as it wound left. A wooden bridge over a small creek of clear water led to a group of four separate buildings came into view, each one about the size of the main house's dining room.

She went for the one closest to them on the right, and opened the sliding door. There wasn't much inside, apart from a few shelves lining the walls, and bed shoved up to the opposite wall. He looked out of a window near the bed, noticing an extremely large mass of pure white fur, it wriggled a bit, and he jumped back.

"That's Naga." she explained, rummaging through a cabinet for what she needed.

"He's cute."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Sit on the bed."

"If we have separate rooms, why am I here?"

She answered him with a stern point at the bed. He shrugged, and sat on it, failing to get comfortable on the hard material.

"Take off your coat." the girl ordered.

He obliged her, shrugging it off and handing it to her. She had the misfortune of sniffing it, and winced. "Thank the spirit we have a laundry." the boy scowled while she smirked. He was dressed in a simple grey shirt, with a dark red line tracing its way up the arms and to the neckline.

She looked him over, and nodded. "Off with the top."

Sighing, he took it off, placing it on top of his coat which sat on the floor.

He had a wiry, but fairly strong frame, his muscles were compact, and well toned. On his right side was a massive bruise which ran almost the entire length of his torso, ending just before his shoulder joint. His right arm dangled, in contrast to his left, which was held normally. Going down it was a trail of bruises and scrapes. She drew a stream of water out of her pouch. Moulding it like she did at the police station, she covered his wounds in it.

It glowed blue, and Tai felt sensation return to his side. He heaved and breathed out, smiling as no pain shot up his side. The bruises disappeared, leaving unmarred, but very white, skin. The water flowed over to his arm, absorbing into the mass there. That sped up the process, and before his eyes the bruises shrunk down to almost nothing, and the scrapes and cuts grew smaller, and were now neat and shallow lines on his skin.

"Thanks."

"I am the only one around here who can heal worth a damn, you know." she pulled him off of the bed and kept a hand on his shoulder as she steered him over towards the door.

"You aren't going to let me forget this, are you?" he sighed as she chuckled.

She gave him a wink. "Not as long as I live. Night." she steered him out of the room, giving him his clothing before sliding the door shut. He watched as the warm lights from the house shut off, leaving the moon's light free to dance across the island. He walked across to his room, opening the sliding door. It was fairly similar to Korra's room, which didn't surprise him that much. He dumped his clothes in a messy pile next to the door, and stumbled over to the bed. All of the events during the past few days had finally caught up with him.

He dropped down onto the hard mattress, burying his face into the pillow feeling very content. And was out like a light in short notice.

* * *

潮


	4. Response

潮

* * *

_Celestial Square, Republic City._

Republic City's city hall gleamed like a jewel in the early morning sun, it's white walls throwing off dazzling arrays of light onto the buildings around it. A massive blue dome sat on top, glowing with a fiery radiance as the sun's rays bounced inside of the glass structure.

A crowd, highlighted by camera flashes and shouting voices, bustled at the gates, which were enforced by a long line of metal bending officers. Past the massive intricately carved oak doors was a huge hall, resplendent with decadence and utterly and completely, gaudy beyond all reason.

A majority of the floor held rows of seats, most of which played host to reporters and journalists trying to pick up the early morning scoop. In front of them was a raised platform, on which a simply made microphone stand sat, indicating it wasn't native to the opulent palace. Behind it stood a slimy and calculating man, his blue eyes swarming with plans and deceit.

Tarrlok leant forwards over the stand, his hands held onto both sides for effect and for balance. "Although the Hundred Year War has long passed, we are not living in a time of peace." An absolutely deafening roar of questioning voices answered him, and cameras flashed furiously, having no effect against his politically-hardened eye.

He swept an arm out wide, grimly setting his mouth in a determined line. "These revolutionaries who call themselves '_Equalists' _are not interested in equality at all. They just want to wage war against benders." The gathered reporters practically foamed at the mouth as they lapped up his words, their only focus being on the front page their story would get to.

The savvy Northern Triber allowed himself a tiny smirk at how easy it was woo over the crowd. "Chief Bei Fong was supposed to protect Republic City, but she was powerless to stop Amon's attack on the arena. She has failed us all. If we are to survive these dire times, our law enforcement needs new leadership."

They were practically putty in his hands now, they took in every word, while he smiled graciously and allowed them to voice their inane questions. A woman wearing a professionally cut business suit got there first. "Councillor, who do you recommend to replace the chief?"

He chuckled as if the question were a light-hearted joke. "I'm sure we can find a suitable replacement in the higher echelons of the police force, to live up to her reputation and quality."

Another reporter cut in, a raven-haired girl with striking amber eyes, who looked like she was just barely hitting twenty. She looked... interesting. "Councillor, is it true that you have been seeking Chief Bei Fong's position for some time?"

Behind his easy-going facade he ground his teeth, and scowled. On the outside he wore a smile that could crack the heavens themself "Absolutely not, Ms….?"

"Serisa."

"Seri_so_. I have never intended and never will intend on taking the position of chief of police, I'm afraid I wouldn't have the stomach for it." He laughed lightly, playing one of his best tricks.

The girl smirked and narrowed those striking eyes. "I don't believe that for one second Councillor."

Tarrlok made a mental note to remember her name, he would find out everything about her later on. He continued his laugh. "While I might be considered one of the candidates for the position, surely I'm at the bottom of the list."

The crowd of reporters chuckled as one, except for Serisa, who scowled. He turned his wiles to the crowd at large. "But if you will have me, then let it be known that I will accept the burdens and responsibilities of her office should it fall down to me. I would be honoured to serve." He finished with a bow and an absolutely sickening smile on his face.

He no longer cared about that reporter, instead waving and bowing In time for camera flashes. A short and weedy aide walked to his side. "Your car is ready, sir." He whispered.

Tarrlok clapped the man on the shoulder. And turned his attention back to the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for your time and curiosity, but I must leave now. Farewell, and may Republic City ever prosper!"

The chattering among them intensified and no-one noticed a single figure leave through the main doors, storming down the steps and out of the hall.

Tarrlok and his aide disappeared through a side door, leaving the crowd to stew. He walked down the glamorous hallway with a smile on his face, very pleased at how things were tipping ever closer to his favour. A man standing at attention saluted, and opened a door, which provided easy access to a hidden away entrance favoured by him. He loved using it to sneak up on the other councillors and it served him faithfully.

A fantastically detailed blue and white car awaited him; flowing trails of silver metal traced their way along its sides, melding into the front grill of the custom made vehicle, which gleamed like the full moon reflecting down on the ice near his childhood home. The hood ornament was again made of pure silver alloy, and was carved in the shape of a silver disc with lines swirling towards the center.

A man dressed in the black suit of a chauffeur inclined his head as Tarrlok and his aides approached. "Councillor. Where to?"

"The estate, Tangris, I have some affairs to sort out."

"As you wish." he respectfully bowed once more before pulling his door open, getting into the seat in one graceful movement.

Tarrlok waited until his door closed until doing the same. Once he was settled on the opposite seat, keeping the middle one between him and one of his senior aides, a tall and gangly youth with amber colored eyes and jet black hair. He handed him a stack of papers. "The affairs for today, Councillor."

"Thank you, Zukao." he said as he flipped through the pages, finding statistics, reports and missives from representatives throughout the city, a very interesting name caught his eye, and he stopped for a moment.

_Cabbage Corp business assets seized by order of Chief Bei Fong, CEO 'Mr Cabbage' apprehended and his accounts frozen. Requesting a audience with Councillor Tarrlok at 2:00PM this afternoon._

_Signed, Hiroshi Sato, FutureTech Industries, Chief Executive Officer._

Tarrlok scratched his chin as he thought up plans and actions to this exciting turn of events, his blue eyes practically glowing. He could finally take Chief Bei Fong out of the game, allowing him free reign to take over as chief of police and increase his influence across the board.

He chuckled softly to himself.

* * *

_Air Temple Island._

"Your bedside manner needs work." he said with a grunt as she accidentally left a scratch on him while trying to dig her fingers under a bandage. He yelped as the bandages ripped across a patch of skin, rubbing it raw.

"Better?" she asked in a innocent tone, laughing as he fixed her with a stormy expression.

"I hate you." he was answered with another rip, and a patch of skin on his lower back burned painfully as he yelped again.

"Stay still." she cautioned.

Tai was sitting cross legged on the floor of Korra's quarters, staring down at the floor in front of him while on a table nearby a radio blared the early morning lineup.

_"It's time to say goodbye, Mari, I won't forget ya!"_ a sitar riff started up before being joined by a bass drum and a saxophone, and a deep voice warbling about a girl named Mari.

"So -ow- changing topics here, when's training begin?"

Korra shrugged behind him. "I don't know, I'm going to meet Mako and Bolin later on, so I don't think it'll be then. Can't you ask him yourself?"

"I will be, I'm just using you as a medium." he said with utter seriousness, making her eyes roll as she started to unwrap the last strip of bandage from his chest.

"Ha ha. Just ask after breakfast."

"Fine. Aren't Mako and Bolin your teammates?" he asked, feeling that he heard their names somewhere before.

"Well yeah, the three of us make up the fire-ferrets. I'm not sure what's going to happen to us though, with the arena as it is."

"It'll be up and running in a few months, Korra." he glanced up at her as she fell quiet for a moment.

"I'm more concerned with them than the pro-bending, they live in one of the towers of the arena." she said after a few seconds of hesitation.

"Oh." he paused, not really sure what to say.

He just thought of something when Korra spoke up again. "You know what? I'm going to ask Tenzin if they can stay here on the island." that excited tone in her voice made him a bit cautious.

"Umm...are you sure about that?"

"Of course I am. I don't want them to be back on the street." she looked at him like he was speaking nonsense.

"No that's not what I meant, you do know who Tenzin _is_ right? Really stubborn, traditional, and a stick the size of a tree trunk up his-"

"I get the point." she said, cutting him off as she tried stifling a giggle.

"Still.."

"I think I can convince him. Besides you'll hit it off just fine."

Tai muttered something under his breath. "Not me I'm concerned about_."_

"What was that?" she asked. The last bandage fell off, and he made the mistake of turning around. She was giving him a suspicous look.

"Nothing!" he said quickly.

"I'll find out one way or another." she decided, thinking about 'asking' in the middle of a spar between the two of them.

"Uh, probably."

They both paused, adding stillness and silence to the room. Tai cleared his throat and grabbed his grey shirt, tugging it over his head and letting it fall down over his body.

Korra packed the bandages away into a sealskin knapsack, and slid it under her bed.

Really it was quite awkward.

_"Mari, oh Mari, I'll find ya someday- We interrupt this broadcast for a special news bulletin!"_

Korra and Tai looked at each other with puzzled looks on them.

The voice on the radio changed to a smooth and light tone. Tai clenched his fists, while Korra crossed her arms. _"Although the Hundred Year War has long passed, we are not in a state of peace."_

"What's _he_ doing?" he murmured, while she placed a finger on her lips.

"Quiet!"

_"These revolutionaries who call themselves "Equalists" are not interested in equality at all. They just want to wage war against benders."_

The sounds of a clapping crowd and the _whumps_ of camera shots carried through the radio's speakers.

_"Chief Bei Fong was supposed to protect Republic City, but she was powerless to stop Amon's attack on the arena. She has failed us all. If we are to survive in these dire times, our law enforcement needs new leadership."_

Among the chorus of voices that answered him, a single one was discernable.

_"Councillor, who do you recommend to replace the Chief?"_

_"I'm sure we can find a suitable replacement in the higher echelons of the police force to live up to her reputation and quality."_

A blast of fire knocked the radio to the floor, leaving its finish slightly blackened and giving off smoke. "That jerk wants to take over the police!" the flames disappeared from her hand as she glowered at the smoldering remains of the little brown box.

"Sounds like he's going for a power grab." Tai muttered.

"He's already got a personal task force that answers to him! This won't be good." she shook her head as she paced around the room a little, getting bad feelings about this.

Tai heard the distant sound of Pema's voice. "Come on, breakfast is up." he grabbed his longcoat and walked over to his room, throwing it inside before waiting near the bridge for her.

She joined him with a sour look on her face.

* * *

"I suppose you heard Tarrlok's announcement?"

Everyone was seated at the table, with a bowl of pleasantly colored muesli and oats in front of them. Ikki and Meelo dug in with glee, with Jinora quietly taking a bite every known and then, focusing on the conversation taking place.

"Yeah, he's definitely looking for the chief's spot." Korra sighed as she stirred her muesli round, a look of distaste on her.

"I'll talk to him at the next council meeting, perhaps I'll be able to dissuade him, or at least find out what he's hiding." her master reassured as she glanced up at him.

"Be careful, Tenzin."

"Korra, shouldn't _I _be saying to you?"

"Maybe, but I'm not taking on a very well connected man in one of the highest positions in the city." she pointed out, making the man stop for a moment before nodding.

"...I'll be careful then."

Tai chuckled. "I bet you've been waiting a while to say that, Korra."

She gave him a very wry look, before turning back to Tenzin. "Hey Tenzin, can I ask you a hypothetical question?"

Tenzin groaned quietly, stopping when Pema gave him a very evil stare. "Very well, what is it?"

"Say two people lived in attic on top of a stadium, and that stadium was somehow damaged and about to destroyed for a new building. What would you say if they had nowhere to go and there were a few rooms available on a hypothetical island near the stadium?"

Tai winced at how shockingly bad she was doing. "Your friends can't stay here." he nodded to himself and put a spoonful of muesli in his mouth as he flipped the pages of the newspaper near his elbow.

"Wha - why not?" she complained while Tai raised his eyebrow.

"Because they're undisciplined and will upset the balance of this island."

"They don't have anywhere to go! And we've got space! Tons of it!" she argued, making him look up from the paper with a gruff sigh.

"Korra-" he was stopped in his tracks by another glare from Pema.

His wife turned to the table. "To be honest, I think this decision should be made with a vote. All in favor of giving two strangers a place to stay?"

Tenzin crossed his arms and huffed. She rolled her eyes in response to his childish display. "For a short _while_?" she added.

All three siblings shot their hands up immediately, and Korra absolutely beamed as she joined with hers. She glanced at Tai, putting him on the spot.

Reluctantly Tai slowly raised it, before she grabbed it and thrust it high, putting the vote forward for him.

Tenzin sighed and rolled his eyes. "Alright fine. But only for a short while."

"Yes! Thanks Tenzin!" She ate her bowl in five seconds flat, she grabbed her cloth, wiping her mouth clean before getting up. "Can I tell them the good news?"

"Yes, you are excused." Tenzin said with a depressed tone.

She ran out of the room, just in time for Meelo to begin smashing his bowl against the table, trying to imitate her.

Tenzin pinched his nose in exasperation. "Meelo please stop doing that."

"RAAAAAH!"

Tai ate his muesli quietly, washing it down with a glass of water. Soon enough he finished the bowl, and stacked it on top of Korra's. He moved to take it to the kitchen when Pema spoke up. "Don't worry about it Tai, Tenzin's on cleaning duty today" she gave her husband a pointed look while she glanced back at Tai with a warm smile. "Why don't you wait outside for training?"

"Oh- alright." he dropped the bowls back onto the table, and left the room, escaping a widening maelstrom of the chaos known as Meelo.

* * *

He had his arms crossed, and his expression was that of boredom as he waited. He bent down to pick at a blade of grass and balanced it on his pinky, watching how its interior was made visible when exposed to sunlight. He flicked it away, and sighed.

His thoughts all moved sluggishly, getting slower and slower as the boredom increased. He decided to focus on the sky, noting the intricate cloud patterns that hung directly over the island, he thought he saw a small shape gliding over him, and wondered if it was the lemur he met when draining the soup dish. He shrugged, and turned to watch the open door, rewarded with the sight of a blue arrow tattoo on a certain someone's bald head.

Tenzin stood in front of him. And was holding a air nomad robe. His size.

He threw it to Tai, and he put it over his head, the material bunched up over his shoulders and Tai tugged at it. It cascaded over his shoulders, finally settling into position. He looked at Tenzin, and nodded. "I'm ready."

"Just a moment." he noticed his master was tapping his foot somewhat impatiently, and he resolved to put his patience to the test in the future, reasoning he might as well do it to liven up the place.

His thoughts were interrupted by a peal of laughter coming through the doorway. Meelo burst through, his arms like wings as he ran around Tai making whooshing noises. Ikki ran after her brother and stood nearby. Jinora walked out with her hands behind her back, as she calmly took her place next to Tai.

"Are we all ready to begin?" Tenzin quietly asked.

Meelo stopped his motions, and moved to Ikki's side, picking his nose.

Tai bowed. "Ready, master."

"Alright, follow me, we're going to work on meditation first."

They all followed him as he took a path around the side of the house, running past a long and manicured hill. A part of it branched off to the right, heading up the hill and running towards a small gazebo like structure, its roof was painted a light blue and decorated with grey swirling symbols, and the supports were a bright uniform white, with no symbols or insignia carved into their surface.

Tenzin walked up the tiny flight of stairs to the inside of the pavilion, and sat down near the side that faced the calm expanse of the ocean. A series of orange circles were arranged in a line in front of him. He indicated them to his students. "Take a seat, everyone."

As one they all sat, mimicking the cross legged position Tenzin was in. Tai settled in on the one closest to the stairs, next to Jinora.

"Now close your eyes, and think of the calmest place you know."

As one they all took a deep breath and shut their eyes. Tenzin watched them for a bit, before doing the same.

"Picture it."

Tai had no small amount of difficulty trying to picture it, he knew that. After a few moments of soul searching and thought. He realized...he didn't have one. He suddenly felt very vulnerable, very self conscious and very afraid. He desperately tried to think of the closest substitute, picturing a small but densely forested island, on it were a collection of buildings and paths.

Here.

Where he was right now, what he was sitting on right now, that was the closest to calm he had since... since ever.

"Now picture those who you know, who give you strength and support you. Picture them standing in this place."

Tai concentrated, and a proud girl with her brown hair in a pony tail appeared first, winking at him with a gigantic smirk on her face. Up next was a woman dressed in a orange and red robe, with her pale hands wrapped around her rounded belly, a warm motherly look in her eyes. Next up was a reedy man, standing straight and tall next to her, the voluminous crimson sleeves of his robes meeting in front of him to form a unbroken link. He had a stern, but knowing look in his gaze. Three children came next, each one dressed in a orange and yellow robe. One was bald, the youngest, and was laughing, with a unlimited amount of cheer and wonder behind his eyes. The second was taller, and she held a evil grin, laughing as well. The last, was quietly looking at him, expectant of what he could do.

_Suddenly the landscape changed, transforming into a hellishly dark place, choking with black smog, and dominated by a torrential downpour of rain. A cluster of dirty and broken buildings cluttered the area, all overshadowed by a massive airship, decked in a theme of red and black, with a familiar symbol staring down at him. Underneath it a wall of fire and blackened wood crackled and flared, instead of the crackle of flames, a chorus of voices screamed and cried out in terror._

_A single hooded figure appeared in front of him, hands clasped behind his back as he walked towards him, a grim white mask boring into him._

_"Boy..." the visage growled, only to fade away as a large shadow grew to loom over the fire, the screams, and the mask. The shadow made motions like it was alive as it swallowed everything up, leaving him alone as a pair of burning yellow eyes rushed towards him-_

* * *

_Dark. Nothing but dark everywhere. No sound but his own small breaths, ragged and fleeting as the small child blindly moved through the complete darkness._

_It had been close. Always close. And he didn't like it. Never liked this place. _

_With a sniff the boy rounded a corner, gasping as rough and broken stones dug into his palm, easily drawing blood and making his eyes water as it started to sting. He kept going. Dad would know what to do. _

_Another wall, he slammed straight into it, seeing stars and feeling aches and pains all over as he shook his head, disorienting himself even further. The darkness thickened almost instantly around him as his head spun amidst the cold chills going down his spine. He ignored it best he could, and pressed down on his tongue to stop himself from crying._

_He kept going._

_The darkness seemed to stretch on and on in front of him, all he could do was follow it, not knowing when it would end. To his surprise the constricting darkness lifted all of a sudden just before he came upon the opening to a dimly lit chamber, dusty with the pictures along the walls dad liked to look at._

_He faltered at the threshold when his vision started to adjust to the dim light, watching as... something came into view, lying on the ground at the center of the room with another something standing over it. The boy rubbed his eyes as the standing figure turned to him with a open hand and a sword by its side, something dripping off of it._

_The boy blinked once. And when he opened his eyes it was gone. His eyes fell on the man lying on the ground, a pair of broken glasses next to him. He ran, desperate tears clouding his eyes. Kneeling over the man and breathing heavily, he looked at the man's wide eyes. And how frozen they were. "Dad?"_

_"Da-" he gently seized the man's shoulders and shook them once but he didn't move. "Dad. Come on!" _

_No answer. "Dad... please."_ _The boy closed his eyes._

* * *

He opened his eyes with a gasp, finding beads of sweat rolling into his eyes. He blinked twice in confusion and terror. And shivered.

"Tai!" Tenzin reached towards him with a concerned look.

Jinora and Ikki craned their heads as they watched him with worry. He found his chest was heaving, and he suddenly got up. "I-I need to go."

"Tai - wait. What did you see?"

He clenched his hands tightly, turning his knuckles white with the tension. "_Him_! I saw him! They were burning and I- nothing but black and black and it-" his voice cracked a little before he stopped and tryed to get a hold of himself, seeing the horrified faces of the kids.

"Calm down!"

A dangerously animal like look came into his eyes. "I need to find him!" he growled.

"That can wait-"

"NO IT CAN'T!" He shouted.

The pavilion was silent, and Tai looked around him, realizing he was standing up with his hands balled into fists. He was breathing heavily. He didn't look at any of them as he stormed out of there, leaving behind the very confused and upset group.

Tenzin pinched his nose in frustration and helplessness, his daughters went to comfort him, wrapping him in a embrace, while Meelo just turned around to watch Tai walk across the cliff edge towards a empty bluff.

* * *

What the hell is wrong with me?

Tai had his arms crossed, and a stormy look in his eyes as he silently watched the waves crash against the rocks below, throwing clumps of churning white foam on them. Once the waves receded small movements were seen in the cracks of the cliff as a colony of Lemurs began to stir and chatter.

A long drawn out breath escaped him as he shook his head. He wiped his palm over his face, sighing as he tried to get his thoughts in check.

Why did I do that? After all these years why did I remember?

He couldn't face them now, possibly never, not after that. They probably would be scared to death of him, and they'd have the right idea to-

"May I sit down?"

He whipped around, averting his eyes as Tenzin sat down next to him and settled into a cross legged position. He stayed silent, not trusting his mouth to say anything good.

"You know, my father sat out here to think, and to work things out between himself. I honestly couldn't see why he did so, which is why I choose to mediate in that shelter."

Trying his luck, he spoke quietly. "Your father? Avatar Aang?"

Tenzin inclined his head. "The very same."

"Did he have the same...issues?" the boy asked quietly, trying to cling onto the knowledge that someone as famous as Aang had the same insecurities he did.

"Not exactly, but he did face a similar problem a long time ago."

"Someone like _hi_- Amon - was threatening the city?"

"Yes. I was only ten years old at the time." he chuckled. "That was around the time I had just met Lin."

He sat there for a moment, trying to picture the high-strung and no-nonsense police chief and his stoic master playing together as kids. "Huh. You both are practically opposites."

His master nodded as he glanced at him. "We knew that, and I don't think we cared one bit."

Tai fidgeted, and looked away from Tenzin. "What's going to happen to me?"

He glanced at his master and immediately regretted it. An absolutely diabolical look was there. "Tomorrow, I'll test you in a few sparring matches. From what I've seen, you really need to brush up on the basics."

"Yeah..."

"Korra can join in as well, I'm sure it'll work out in your favor." Tenzin didn't know that Tai saw him wince.

"I think I can take her on." he said with a bit of fire in his voice.

"Good."

"Honey!" They both looked back, seeing Pema standing behind them. "Korra needs to talk with you, says its urgent."

Tenzin nodded, and before leaving him, placed a hand on Tai's shoulder. "Keep it under control?"

The boy hesitated, slightly unsure before his confidence welled up. "I will."

"I think we'll end the lessons for today. Do whatever you want, and I'll see you at dinner."

Tai nodded, and turned back to watching the ocean, his thoughts now at ease. For a little while.

* * *

Huh. The both of them had been gone a while now. Tai ran a towel through his hair, trying to get it back into his meticulously unkempt look. He nudged the door open with his feet, and stepped out onto the smooth stone pathway.

He really wasn't sure what to do with himself for a while, aimlessly wandering around the Island at first. He found himself near the air acolytes quarters, and decided to give them a hand in their daily jobs and labor. After bidding them goodbye, he still wasn't satisfied, and decided to explore the western edge of the Island. That was going to be difficult though, seeing as a fifty meter gap separated it from the island proper. Still it wasn't something he hadn't faced before, and decided to make that his goal for the day. It kept him focused, stopping him from going back to the darker parts of his thoughts.

Finally, as the sun began to duck back towards the horizon, he got across. He set to exploring, disturbing colonies of Lemurs, rousing curious looks from a heard of sky-bison, and generally finding something to with his time. Soon enough he found what he found what he was looking for.

After being bested several times in a row by a particularly stubborn broad leaf as wide as his whole body. He stumbled into a clearing, bisected in two by a running stream of crystal clear water. In the center of the grove was a simple rock, twice as high as he was. He didn't know why but it radiated a sense of calm and security. He decided to leave though, promising to come back here at a latter point in time.

As his hair undertook metamorphosis inside the warm cocoon the towel made, he looked up at the moon, noticing how especially full it was tonight. It glimmered beautifully, giving everything it saw a portion of its light. Studding the sky alongside the moon, stars twinkled brilliantly, trying their best to shine before the advancing cloud formation blowing from the west, their dark nebulous profiles barely discernible against the dark sky.

Although the police airship floating just over the tops of the trees near the dormitory ruined the vista a little.

He stopped ruffling his hair, and it immediately poofed out. He blew a thick strand of hair out his mouth, a very unimpressed look on him. Looking down at times to check the towel around his waist was still hanging one, he crossed the bridge to his and Korra's rooms. He saw her door move.

Huh. She was back.

Tai shrugged and walked over to his door, reaching to pull it back. He heard a slight thump within, and paused. Slowly and cautiously, he gripped the edge of the door, and very purposefully, began to slide it across, trying not to alert whatever made the sound.

It opened up, so far revealing only what was there normally, nothing at all and a sock or two. His sword, currently sitting in its sheath, was propped up against the opposite wall, between a shelf and a line of cabinets. Maybe it was a false alarm...

"Hello."

Now he was very confused. He opened it fully, revealing the addition of two extra beds, with two more occupants.

A short but solid-looking boy with bright green eyes was looking straight at him, an thick eyebrow raised, and a question in his bright green eyes. On his head was a curled up length of red fur. The other occupant of the room, tall with dirty golden eyes and dark hair, crossed his arms, and quietly mouthed something to himself.

Tai was about to take a breath to speak when he stopped himself. Stepping through the threshold, he walked past the two of them, holding up a single finger as he did so. He stood by his bed, and closed the curtains.

Dropping the towel around his ankles, he grabbed his pants, slipping them on with practiced ease. He pulled his gray shirt over his head, which managed to pat down his hair into its natural messiness.

He sat down on his bed, and opened the curtains, seeing that the two of them were definitely still there. Tai scratched the back of his neck. "Uh...I'm Tai."

The coil of red fur jumped off of the guy with the green eye's head, and moved across the floor towards him. It stood up, raising itself as high as his knee. He watched it as it cocked its head and squeaked, before he could blink it wrapped itself around his foot and purred contentedly.

Mako opened his mouth to answer when his brother cut in. "Name's Bolin, awesome bending master and pro-bending champ."

"I'm sorry, I haven't seen any of your games."

Bolin sagged. "Oh." he pointed at Mako. "That's Mako, my brother."

He nodded, the crimson scarf catching his eye when compared to the drab colors on the rest of Mako's clothes. "Nice scarf."

"It stays on me." Mako answered a bit pointedly.

Tai held up his hands. "Sure, fine. Did I miss something?"

Bolin chuckled. "I think I did too, even if I was there."

Mako took this as a chance to cut in. "Equalists."

"Really? Is Korra okay?" he asked, hoping that they hadn't badly hurt her. He blinked twice as he wondered why thoughts like _that_ were on his mind.

"Yeah she's , how do you know her?" Bolin crossed his arms, casting a suspicious look at him.

"We met on a moonlit night in a cosy 'interview room' at police headquarters." came the boy's incredibly sarcastic reply.

"Police Headquarters? You some kind of crook? What'd you do?" Mako pressed, already getting the idea that this guy was trouble.

"I... had a meeting with someone." Tai, trying not to let his eyes narrow in distaste at his own failure.

The other boy nodded, his eyes untrusting. "Right." he noticed the sword propped against the wall. "That there too?"

"It was bring your own." Tai didn't bother hiding any sarcasm at this point, already getting a feeling that this guy was going to be difficult.

They bored into each others eyes, trying to gauge what the other was thinking. Bolin watched them cautiously and suddenly yawned. "Uh, well, I'm off. Night!" he said quickly, before dropping onto the bed and snoring.

Mako spoke up first. "Stay away from her." he warned as he laid back down, closing his eyes immediately and turning away from the boy.

Tai scowled and did the same, finding himself uncomfortably scrunched up against the wall. The urge to sleep never found him.

Great.

* * *

潮


	5. The Ferret, And The Decision

潮

* * *

_Air Temple Island._

He yawned, stretching his arms out in front of him as the thin glass of the window staring down at him let the sun caress his face. He didn't see it that way however, and screwed his eyes shut in a bid to keep the dark going. He noticed a small coil of red fur on his chest, breathing slowly as he reached a hand to stroke the fur on its belly, the creature awoke and studied him quizzically. The little ferret rolled over, showing more of the pale fur on its belly.

Tai took this as an invitation and scratched it, causing the creature to stretch and purr contently. After a short while he stopped, and got up. The ferret was too slow, and fell off with a squeak. It immediately went outside, disappearing from sight.

Tai shrugged and scratched the back of his head, launching a pre-emptive strike on a itch that was threatening to form. He walked outside, blinking as the sun's glare reached him.

He saw Pabu wrapped around the branch of a tree nearby, trying to bat a small berry off of its stem. He kept on walking, moving across the bridge and down the path towards the house. Sliding the door open, he was greeted with the main hallway, warmly lit by the early morning sun. As he stepped through Meelo and Ikki ran down the stairs, moving away from him and disappearing in the corridor between the kitchen and dining room. With no reason as to why, he followed them, looking into the corridor. Pema walked out of the cluttered kitchen, and saw him.

"Morning."

He smiled. "Morning Pema."

"I was just about to send your wake up call – well – he's currently making a mess in the next room."

He could do without the threat of Meelo jumping on him. "Lucky break for me."

"Actually now that you're here…can you bring the pot out?"

"You work me to the bone around here."

She shrugged. "Have to find some way to make you useful."

Tai winced. "Ooh, that hurts just a tiny bit."

She laughed. "It's on the bench closest to the door."

He nodded his understanding, and waited for her to enter the next room before going in to get the pot. He went in, finding the massive pot sitting in front of him on the polished wooden surface of a bench. With a grip on each handle, he lifted it without too much effort, and made his journey across the hallway to the dining room.

Everyone was seated at the table, talking among themselves or waiting patiently while Tai carefully maneuvered the pot of muesli into center position. After wiggling it across the surface to give it a bit of space from the clutter, he stepped back and sat down in a empty place next to Bolin.

Meelo seemed to be bursting from the inside. Tenzin saw this, and turned to him. "Meelo?"

He pointed at the three newcomers. "Who are they?"

"They are friends of Korra's. They will be living on the island for a short while."

Mako answered him. "Sorry if we're intruding, sir."

Tenzin arched an eyebrow, and chuckled. "Well I can see who the responsible one is."

Korra shot Mako a look that denounced him as a suck up as Tenzin glanced knowingly at Tai. Worth a shot.

"I...don't think that I need to do that..._master_." Tai narrowed his eyes for a few seconds as his master shrugged in response.

Bolin decided to chip in. "Mr Tenzin, sorry, sir. If you need any kind of help whatsoever, _we_ are your people." He shot his brother a cheesy grin. Mako groaned and shook his head.

Tenzin had an absolutely evil look on his face now. "I thank you both for the offer, after breakfast I'll give you two a list of things that Pema or I will need help with."

Mako's eyebrow twitched a little, as he thought of throttling Bolin. Asami touched him lightly on the shoulder, and he sighed. She smiled at him, and turned to Tenzin, she inclined her head towards him. "We thank you for your hospitality, Councilman Tenzin, and we'll help out any way we can during our stay here."

Bolin gave her a thumbs up, while next to him, Korra as busy demolishing the muesli.

"It's no trouble Asami. And just Tenzin will do." he looked over at Tai. "Tai, after you are finished here, you'll met Korra and I outside."

"Training?" Came the boy's voice, muffled by a mouthful of food.

He inclined his head. "Yes. We'll be sparring, seeing how good you are with both of your elements."

Tai swallowed noisily, getting a smirk from Korra and a arched eyebrow from Asami. "Can't wait." Tai noticed that Korra's smirk had gained an evil edge to it, not to mention those were the same eyes she used when about to give a beatdown. "This is going to hurt isn't it?"

She nodded vigorously as she dropped her spoon into her bowl. "I'm done!" she announced suddenly while standing up, and pointing at Tai with her pinky and index finger extended. "See you out _there_."

Bolin leaned in towards him. "Dude, it was nice knowing you." he whispered. He gave his new friend a sympathetic look and went back to finishing off the muesli.

Tai scooped the rest of his into his mouth, and dropped his spoon into the bowl. He stood up. "Thanks for the food Pema. Everyone, goodbye." He walked out of the room, heading outside through the front door.

Than he beamed.

To be honest, he was playing it up a little. He was confident he could take her on and win, he was a air bender by birth, so he was accustomed to dodging and moving quickly. In his reasoning, he was certain that it was the most versatile of the four elements, and he could use it to counter almost every one of her moves. He could firebend as well, but he was unskilled and clumsy, and more than likely he would hurt himself and others rather than what he was aiming at. He started on the path connecting to the training area and the living quarters, and spent his time thinking up plans, counters, actions, everything he could do to defeat the physical incarnation of the world's spirit.

Shouldn't be that much trouble.

* * *

Okay, it was _a lot _of trouble.

A wall of earth rose out of the ground, and rushed towards him with a grinding noise. He was still low to the ground, bending his entire body to duck underneath a arc of fire that had sliced towards him moments before. The wall crashed into his feet, tripping him up and causing him to float for a single second. The end of that second was reached as a blast of water caught him in the chest, drenching him from head to toe and threatening to slam him into the ground, giving the avatar a early win.

He threw his hands out, and created a cushion of air underneath his body, it rose up, getting him back on his feet. He smirked as Korra scowled, throwing several discs of earth at him. He spun around them, blending the move into a strong kick of pressurized air, the projectile hit Korra in the chest, throwing her back a few meters.

Tenzin stood on the edge of the circular space, nodding approvingly as he watched both of his pupils dodge and weave around attacks, rather than face them head on.

Korra rolled forwards, barely avoiding another blast of air. She quickly sprang up, and lifted a thick finger of rock out of the ground, she flung it towards him like a javelin, and Tai quickly sidestepped the projectile, retaliating with a sweep of his arms, commanding a crescent shaped mass of air to speed towards her. She ducked under it, and lifted her foot to stomp down on the ground.

Tai yelped as the patch of earth he was standing on was thrown upwards, flinging him into the air. Korra drew her arms back, gathering more energy for another earth bending move. He predicted this, and drew the air around him into a shield to deflect the projectile that would be coming at him at any momen-

A hard object hit him from behind, slamming him into the ground just in front of Korra. The block of earth retracted back into the ground, melding seamlessly with the soil once more.

Korra was breathing heavily, wiping a bead of sweat off of her forehead. Flicking a loose lock of hair out of her eyes, she chuckled and put her hands on her hips. "That was a good one Tai."

He groaned pitifully, his response muffled by the soil, after finding out just how much his body was hurting he stopped. And settled for a thumbs up.

"You both did well, although Tai, you need to work on tightening up your blasts and sweeps." He watched the boy's chin dip slightly from his position down on the ground, and turned to the tired girl. "Korra, your strength is close quarters, you need to close the gap between him and you. Although that shouldn't be a problem once you've learnt more air bending techniques."

Her bow was clumsy as her muscles almost refused to bend that way. "Thank you, Tenzin."

He glanced at Tai, than at her. "I hope you'll heal him once we're done for the day?"

"Heh. Third times the charm." she smirked, before a flash of a strange thought ran through her, threatening to leave furious blush on her cheeks.

Tai managed to get up, and limped to the edge of the practice area, standing next to Tenzin.

"So what now, Tenzin?" Korra asked, eager to clear her head of those strange thoughts.

Her master strode forwards, settling into a stance that kept him flexible and agile. "You'll be sparring against me now. When you are ready."

Korra laughed nervously, looking over at the boy she had just beaten into the ground for support, someone to give her the assurance that she'll live to see the end of the day. Despite his condition, he gave her a thumbs up, keeping it there for a second before his arm gave up trying, and he settled for a very grim smile instead..

He watched as she settled into a earthbending stance, with her feet placed out wide from her body, and facing directly towards the airbender. She breathed in deeply for a few moments, calming herself and clearing her head. She opened her eyes, and nodded.

She ran forward, and twisted to the right, using her leg to sweep a stream of fire at him. He used a circular motion to dodge, before twirling to face her again and swiping his arms forwards, sending a wall of wind towards Korra. She rolled out of the way and with one palm on the ground, she willed a spear of earth to jut out from under Tenzin. He used a gust of air to raise himself above it, hanging there, he spun around, creating a funnel of spinning wind that drove at her. She stomped the ground, and a wall of earth rose up, blocking the funnel. As he dropped back to the ground he unleashed a kick of air at her, missing her by inches as she dodged out of the way.

"Hey guys! Tai, wo-"

Bolin screamed most ladylike as the blast of air flew towards him. He flailed his arms wildly, in response, a wall of earth began to jerk upwards, than downwards a bit, before finally reaching to the top of his head. The blast slammed into the wall, and kept going, dissipating just before Bolin's boggled eyes. Tai watched as he began breathing again, and let the formation settle back in. Mako and Asami were a few metres behind him, and made choking noises as they held their mouths closed, trying not to let a sound escape.

"That was close." Mako observed with a barely suppressed smirk as he walked past his stunned brother, who had a look of sheer shock on his face. Asami waved her hand in front of him, trying to get him to snap out of it. Slowly he regained normal body movement and blinked a few times.

Asami moved over to Mako's side, while Bolin moved over to Tai. The young airbender had a smug look on his face, despite the fact that he was nursing a bruised and beaten arm, several battered ribs, and a knee that threatened to give out at any time. "That's the power of air for you."

"Funny. I'll remember that when I have to go to the bathroom." Bolin said with a very shaky tone.

His ribs hurt like hell as he laughed, the sound carrying all over the circular space. "Still making jokes in the face of death. Good job Bolin." He settled down after a bit, and focused on the match between Korra and Tenzin. "Korra's getting worn down." he observed.

He watched as she unleashed a massive sweeping arc of flame in front of her, which Tenzin quickly deflected with a circular motion using both arms, causing it to dissipate into the air. He heard Korra growl and throw her arms back, with a massive cry she flung them forwards, causing a massive wall of earth to jut out of the ground higher and higher as it made its journey towards her master. He countered by jumping high into the air, using his bending and natural agility to his advantage. He twirled, and lashed out his foot, a massive scythe of air slammed through the earth formation, shattering it back into dust and soil. It continued it's path towards Korra, and with great effort, she managed a sloppy sidestep away from it.

She ran forwards, ducking and weaving as Tenzin launched blast after blast at her. She got hit by a few of them, but managed to recover and make her way to his position. Tenzin pursed his lips as he jumped high into the air once more, bending the air around him into a crescent shaped mass, and directed it with great speed at Korra. She smirked and ducked under it, than slammed her foot into the ground.

Tenzin saw a patch of earth rise beneath him from the corner of his eye. He drew the air around him into a protective barrier, deflecting the growing tower of rock and dirt and shattering it into pieces.

Korra's face fell as he reformed the barrier into a single great mass, which he sent flying towards her. In vain she quickly drew a sphere of earth around her, with pieces of rock and clumps of soil swirling around her and settling into position. She was too late, and the mass managed to get enough through, hitting her in the gut and sending her tumbling backwards stomach over head, getting a few yelps and grunts from the avatar-in-training before she finally came to a stop in a heap on the ground.

Tai winced as he felt her pain, not even sparing a thought that she was the one who did it to him. A very low groan was the only noise in the area as Tenzin copied his student.

"Are you alright Korra?"

She held a arm above her, with her thumb stuck up in the air. "Just a 'sec."

"I think we'll end the sparring there. Now, Bolin..." he started, trying to suppress his laughter at how gray the boy had become.

Bolin seemed to cringe a little as he heard Tenzin say his name. "Y-yes?"

Tenzin dipped his head. "I apologize for hitting you with that attack."

He seemed to get some of his bravado back on the spot. "What? Oh, uh, nah" he put on a cheesy grin, holding up both arms, with Pabu on top of his head. "It's fine, I could have taken it."

Mako decided to chip in. "Could not, I saw you get taken down by a stray turtle-dog once." He flashed a smug smirk at Bolin, mouthing "I win" to him silently.

Bolin scowled in response. "I was merely caught off-guard, dragging you out of the way of a _car_ tends to do that."

"You were nearly hit by a car?" Asami glanced at Mako, concern on her mind.

"That was a year ago, Bolin. It's not a habit!" he said quickly, trying to reassure her at the same time.

Bolin grinned. "Funny, you said that when that _truck_ nearly hit last month!"

They continued their brotherly bickering as Tai saw Asami look over in his direction, with a very desperate plea for help in her eyes. Tai shrugged, gave her a thumbs up, and went to help Korra. As he went over to her, she rolled over, now facing the calm blue sky, she coughed and groaned, and she curled over in pain. He bent down, offering her a hand. Slowly, she recognized he was there, and grabbed it. Tai pulled her up, stumbling a little.

"So who needs healing now?" He simply could not resist the dig, very much amused by how reversed the situation was.

Korra flashed a look at him that he would see again a thousand times over. "Shut. Up." She frowned as she took a look at him. "Actually, I think you do."

"I know a thing or two about patching people up, if you'd let me...?"

She sighed. "Alright. But no funny stuff."

"I'd _never_." he said, putting on a mortified expression. A smile came back to his lips. "If it helps, you did pretty well there."

His words hung in the air for a few seconds as she barely registered the compliment. She nodded once as a sigh escaped her. "I really need to learn air bending."

"Are you sure? You may not be able to stand up to my skills."

"You're right, I'll do fine in the meanwhile, not like you can help or anything."

"Alright."

She blinked twice in confusion. "What?"

"I'll help." she saw his shoulders rise as he did a little shrug.

"With airbending?"

He nodded. "Yeah. You're the avatar, you need to learn it. With two airbenders teaching you, you'll be great at it."

"And when will this 'teaching' take place?"

"I don't know, four till five every day?"

Korra didn't find any downside to the extra training. The words Amon spoke to her during their 'duel' still occupied her thoughts, and forced her to suppress a shudder every now and then. Without any hesitation she caught his eye and nodded vigorously. "Sounds good."

"Are you two conspiring?" Tenzin walked over to them, with concern and amusement in his eyes. Mostly amusement. She managed to wave her hand a little, although it ached terribly doing even that in the battered state she was in.

Tai gave him a serious look. "Actually, master, I was just offering to help Korra with her airbending."

Tenzin nodded his approval. "I was going to suggest the very same."

He blinked, not expecting that. "You were?"

"I'm afraid with the state Republic City is in, you'll need to know all four elements to do your duties effectively." He rolled his eyes, garnering a quizzical look from his two students. "_That_ was Tarrlok's reasoning. _I_ just want you to be safe, but your safety wasn't on his mind, just results."

"So are you going to allow it, master?" Tai asked.

Tenzin inclined his head. "I will, you'll need everything you can to stay safe. Also goes for you as well Tai." he looked knowingly at him.

He got the message as a thought came to mind. "Korra? Will you help me with firebending practice?" he turned towards her, waiting for a answer.

"Well, alright." She was willing to do whatever she could to help the still-enigmatic boy, partly motivated by what happened in the warehouse and by a desire to just... help.

As Tai took a step forward towards the path, Tenzin placed a hand on her shoulder. "Meet me at the pavilion a hour after lunch."

"Meditation?" Korra asked, wincing a little at the extra suffering her muscles would endure.

"Indeed."

The girl watched him look at Tai, noticing the worried look in his eyes. And just after Tenzin left to talk to the others, she regarded him suspiciously. "Tai, what happened?"

His free hand balled into a fist unknowingly. "Nothing."

She rolled her eyes. "Great answer."

"We just meditated."

Sensing the strange look in his eyes, she backed off. "Alright. Deliver me to the living quarters. If you will." Tai gave her a strange look, and she shrugged. "You're less likely to collapse."

He shook his head, sighing as he helped her down the path, leaving Tenzin and the others.

"I kicked your ass." she pointed out rather bluntly, using it as an excuse to get a conversation going.

"Uh huh. I hear them applauding." Without warning the boy stumbled. Which was

"Ow!"

"Oh no, I must have slipped on a rock." He stated with all the innocence he had.

"That was _evil_."

"Talking down to the help is not recommended."

"...Fine."

The area around the path opened out into the island proper, their view no longer obscured by the bamboo stalks.

"I'm sorry."

He chuckled. "What? You didn't hurt my feelings or anything."

She looked away. "No. I mean, asking the way I did before, about meditating."

"No. It's fine." He sighed. "I screwed up."

The girl nodded, before a nervous little chuckle escaped her. "So, now that we're talking about this, what happened?"

"I flipped out. While we were meditating...I some kind of vision, sort of. It was peaceful at first, as it should have been. Than it changed horribly. _He _appeared, and Tenzin tried to snap me out of it. I was angry, pissed off, I just wanted to-" he caught himself, when he saw the growing concern in his friend's eyes. "-sorry, didn't mean to dump it on you."

"That's okay." They both fell silent, the birds and wind taking up the conversation instead.

Suddenly she laughed. And Tai had a puzzled look on him. "I'm the avatar, and I'm supposed to stop him, and-and, I _can't_." she hung her head. "I'm afraid."

A grunt escaped her as he stopped suddenly, looking at her with a twisted smirk. "Afraid, you? You're the bravest girl I've ever met, just an example, if you tried your best scared scream, you _still_ wouldn't compare to mine. I'm very good at it."

Despite how she was feeling, she giggled. "I doubt that, Tai, remember the warehouse? I froze up, and there he was coming towards me, and well, you saved my life."

He saw something strange in the corner of his eye. Di- did she just blush? "Uh- thank you?" he tried weakly. He really had no clue what to do from here. He looked up, noticing they were near the bridge. He took them over, walking carefully to ensure he didn't hurt her or himself. As he came to the courtyard between the two sleeping rooms, he stopped for a moment. "Your room?"

"Yeah, my pouch is there."

He opened the sliding door for her, and she nodded gratefully. They moved towards one of the beds, and Tai carefully lowered Korra onto the mattress. She went to grab for the water pouch lying on the floor nearby when Tai stopped her. "I'll get it." with a slight sound of discomfort he picked it up and handed it to her. She laid it next to her as he sat down on the bed.

Without warning she took her top off. Tai reddened and quickly looked away, and he heard her laugh. "I need you to put some bandages on me first, genius."

Trying not to look at the lovely shade of brown her skin was, he clamped a hand over his eyes and grabbed a roll from the bag, using the little gap between his fingers to find his way to it, which was tough going, especially when his attention kept being drawn to the finely curved hips sitting just to the side. "Where do you want them?"

"Left shoulder and over my stomach."

"Ookay..." He couldn't control the gulp as his fingers brushed against her skin, and he was sure she knew. She didn't seem to mind though or point out his embarrassment though, and he was _very _grateful for that.

He began with her shoulder, covering it with soft, white cloth as he slowly wound it down her arm in fairly tight bounds. Just as it reached her elbow he stopped, and tied it off, he snipped it loose from the roll, it came free, with only a little fraying at the end. With the remainder he went to work wounding it around her stomach, trying not to brush her skin with his fingers. The roll ran out, so he took out a fresh one and kept on running it around. After her stomach was completely covered with the material, he stopped, snipping it and stowing the roll back into the pack.

She put her shirt back on, and rolled her shoulder, wincing slightly as it flared up a bit. "Nothing I can't handle." She drew a stream of water out of the pouch and directed it to her arm and stomach, sighing with relief as the pain from both of them dulled. She turned to him.

"Okay. Your turn."

He took his shirt off immediately, and held his arms out from him. She directed the water onto his arm, and upper chest. After his bruises on those areas shrunk down, he wordlessly turned away from her. His back had a massive red welt dominating it, from the block of earth that struck him there from before. The water spread out over it, completely covering the blow. It glowed a light blue, and the welt shrunk down in size, and the pain died away to a dull throb. "Thanks."

He put his shirt back on, and stood up, smiling as nothing hurt or complained. She sighed and dropped the water back into the pouch, and laid down on the bed. For a few seconds he stood there awkwardly, until he realized that he was supposed to be doing something. "I'll- uh -leave now."

"No problem Tai..." She immediately rolled over, dropping into sleep like a rock being thrown into a lake.

His earlier embarrassment replaced, he rolled his eyes and left the room, closing the door behind him as quietly as he could. Just as he walked out into the courtyard, he saw Bolin walking over the bridge towards him. He stopped for a bit, and tilted his head. "Hey man! Uh...wasn't that Korra's room?"

Tai glanced at him. "Yeah...why?"

"Well you walked out of there..."

"Uh huh."

"And I think I'm making a assumption here..."

"No."

"What?"

"No I didn't do what you think I did."

"And what did I think you were doing?" He said with a smirk.

"Oh. Many things. Cleaning the walls, organizing some stuff, feeding her polar-bear dog."

"Whoops."

"We were both beaten up, so she offered to heal me, and she needed my help with some bandages. Didn't really get farther than that. Where'd Mako and Asami go?"

"Due to nearly getting my head literally blown away, Tenzin let me go while he gave them a job to do. I think I won that one." He said smugly. Mentally chalking one for him and a zero for his brother.

He moved closer to Tai, settling just in front of him with his arms crossed. "You know I haven't really asked this..."

"How'd she and I meet?"

"Iiiif you'd elaborate."

He thought about it for a bit. So far Bolin has been fairly nice to him, and to be honest, he was fun to be around, of course he'd never say it outright, what with ruining his mystique and all, but he was okay. He decided on his answer.

"I was badly hurt, and Amon was about to end it for me, when I looked over and saw a group of benders coming into the warehouse. She was among them. So Amon runs straight at her, and I managed to stop him from hurting her. Next thing I know, I'm at the station being interrogated, and the next morning I came here for training and for a place to stay." He held up his arms. "The whole sad story."

"That's intense, I can't say I understand why you took that guy on alone though, scares the hell out of me."

"He took someone important away." he said quickly and matter-of-factly.

Bolin fell silent for a moment. "I think I can relate to that." his voice quiet to the point of a whisper.

"If it's alright with you, I really want to stop there."

"Say no more, buddy." Bolin went to lean against the cherry tree nearby, his face partially framed by the sun as it lowered towards the horizon. "This place is very..."

"Boring?" Tai said. Bolin nodded vigorously, making him chuckle. He looked around, and suddenly hit upon something.

"Wanna be a nuisance?"

"Oh, _yes_."

* * *

The sun was long hidden by now, having been replaced by the moon slowly rising into its place among the stars. The main building was lit up, and laughter came from within.

"You'll be fixing that tomorrow, and building a _new one for the next MONTH_! What _drove_ the two of you to do such a thing? It took me a hour to calm Oogi down!", Tenzin was absolutely livid, and was well on the way to looking very similar to a tomato.

Even Pema was doubled over in laughter with tears coming from her eyes. "Honey, I think they had other priorities on their minds!"

"Urrrgh!" He took on a evil presence, and his voice went cold, and his thoughts menacing as they rushed into a very dark place. "There are some very steep cliffs around here you know."

Tai and Bolin kept laughing, ignoring the fact that a master airbender had just threatened to end their short lives. Korra couldn't stop either, coughing slightly as her ribs ached a little. "You have to admit, it was pretty hilarious!"

"That's it! You are both banned from even going near the stables. It's a wonder you two have even survived this far without-"

"Am I interrupting?"

Everyone looked up, and saw a brown skinned man dressed in a very fashionable light blue great coat. His hair was done in three ponytails, and the heady scent of perfume followed him around.

"_Ponytail man._" Came the dark tone of a little girl sitting next to her dad.

"Tarrlok? What are you doing here?" Tenzin asked suspiciously.

"Just checking up on our young avatar's progress." he purred, winking at said avatar. Oddly enough he kept throwing looks at the dark-haired boy sitting next to her.

"She's doing fine." he said quickly, arching an eyebrow as he kept his gaze fixed on the young councilman. "Why are you really here?"

"You may not have noticed, sitting out on the bay, but Republic City is in need of the avatar." The airbender barely suppressed a scowl as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. He always used that excuse.

"I know you, you just want to use her for your own reasons!"

The younger man nodded. "I do, Tenzin. As one the representatives on the council, I only want to help my city and her people, and will do it anyway I can. Amon is up to-"

"Where?" Everyone turned to Tai, different levels of confusion or shock on them.

Tarrlok laughed politely. "Why I do, young man. And I'd like you to be there when we catch him."

"In what way?"

The older man shrugged. "Simple, join my taskforce and you can help me take him down, the city will thank you for it. This time you'll have a full team of veteran benders to back you up." he winked knowingly at the boy.

"What does he mean this 'time'?" Mako asked from his place in between his girlfriend and brother.

Tai ignored him. This was it, he finally had another shot at getting the bastard! He noticed the look of concern in Korra's eyes. He was about to speak up, when she beat him to it. "Tai what are you doing!"

"He's the reason I came he-" he started, not believing that she was trying to tell him _not to do this_.

"You'll only get hurt! Or worse-"

"I don't care."

Korra growled in frustration at how stupidly he was acting. "Fine!" She crossed her arms, shooting Tai a dark look. In response his eyes softened, and he sighed despondently.

"Avatar, I believe your leave of absence is over, I want you working with us to get to him. I'll see you both at headquarters, be there by 7:00 Am."

Tarrlok bowed, and left the room, and all of the silence within.

Tai cleared his throat, and stood up from the table, leaving without a word. He purposefully kept his gaze ahead of him, not daring to look at anyone.

He found himself wandering over to the cliff he found a couple of days earlier, and sat down on the soft grass, trying to get his head clear of everything. Time seemed to drop away, and shortly enough, he absolutely had no clue how long he'd been out there, and to be honest, it wasn't a issue for him. The cold breeze gave him no trouble, he simply used a bit of air and fire bending to keep the space around him free of the cold. He thought he saw someone approaching from behind, only for him or her to quickly disappear.

He had a feeling he knew who it was, and didn't really want to go through it with her so soon. As he was about to relax and continue watching the dark waters lap silently against the cliff face, another shadow fell over him.

"Are you sure about this?" Tenzin asked.

"Of course I'm sure." came his response, although not as adamant as he wanted it to be.

"Korra told me what happened in that building."

"Did she leave out the part where I saved her?" he said with a bit too much bite, glancing up at his master for the inevitable lecture.

"Actually that was the part she talked the most about."

Tai ignored him, preferring to let his own mind sort out everything, and failing in the attempt. Instead it kept going over one little detail. "Whatever."

Tenzin rolled his eyes. "Don't do anything you'll regret Tai."

Like he hadn't already. "I'll be on her squad, so I don't say anything bad happening to us."

"Alright. Meet me near the -ugh- _remains,_ of the stable, 6:30 Am. I need to leave early for council duties."

He walked away, leaving the boy to his thoughts. Great. Now he really was regretting this.

* * *

潮


	6. The Politician, and The Lead

The sun tried furiously to shine through the thick clouds over the east, and failed miserably, only managing to cast a faint warm glow over the city. Down on a little island in the bay, a teen, wearing a black great coat with a black scabbard carried on his back yawned and stretched, absently noting a small pair of green eyes staring at him from the interior of a bush nearby.

Suddenly the eyes disappeared, and the bush slightly rustled as if something was making a desperate escape from a coming storm.

Korra walked towards him, flashing him a dark look every now and then. She had her arms crossed as she stood near him, clearly still pissed-off about his decision.

The boy honestly couldn't figure out why though. She knew why he was here, she knew who he was after, she should have seen this coming. But if that was the case, than why did he think those sounded like _excuses_? He avoided looking at her, settling for staring intently at the ground in front of him, casually admiring the intricate dirt formations, the lovely swirls of soil…

Yeah he was not _great_ at it.

He sighed and looked back up. I should say something he reasoned. Why? His brain argued. I've obviously done something wrong haven't I? He replied to his thinking muscle. Right, yeah good point, she could flatten you into the earth easily. You know what? Try it like this… "Uh, so! Great food last night wasn't it?" he said, off to a brilliant start, he sealed the trainwreck with a nervous chuckle.

The only thing answering him was the cold and lonely wind blowing into his face. He decided to go for broke, he sighed and rubbed a hand down his face. "Okay, look, I'm sorry alright?"

No answer from her. But he did see a slight look in his direction, wasn't sure if it held anger or something positive though. "I messed up. I shouldn't have done that."

She looked up. "Tenzin's here." She stated.

Their master walked out of the house, as unwavering as ever. "Ready you two?" He walked over to Oogi, sitting on top of him with a graceful leap.

Korra settled in at the back of the saddle, pointedly looking in every direction but his. He shrugged hopelessly and clambered onto the Bison, placing himself on a spot in the middle. With a slight lurch, they lifted away, gliding towards the still sleeping buildings of Republic City. They flew fairly low, enough that a few times the spray from the water sometimes covered them, Korra compensated by subtly bending the spray away from them, and yet for some reason Tai was still getting soaked.

Tenzin rolled his eyes and focused forwards, guiding the Bison through and over the tall buildings and elaborate townhouses of the more well-off boroughs of the city. The cluster of buildings and maze of roads beneath soon gave way to a much more open and more thought out span of road, running parallel on the edge of the district. The police headquarters dominated this road, and was growing larger and larger as Tenzin guided Oogi down in front of it.

With a snort he landed, at which Korra immediately jumped out of the saddle, waiting impatiently for Tai to follow. As he went to stand next to her, Tenzin looked at both of them. "Watch yourself when dealing with Tarrlok. He has a motive behind everything he does." He said with a knowing look in his eye.

He led the way, going towards the heavy double doors of the main entrance, they made their way directly to the reception desk, at which a bubbly woman with sandy brown hair smiled most cat-like at them. "Councilman Tenzin! And the-" She seemed to squeal a little, garnering strange looks from all three of them. "_Avatar Korra_?"

"Yeah, that's me." Korra smiled a bit uncertainly at her.

She didn't seem to notice that Tai was standing there, now that her eyes were filled with the presence of the avatar.

Tenzin spoke fairly quickly, and loudly to get her attention. "Where is Tarrlok, miss?"

"Just down this hallway, everyone's gathered for a speech of his!" She pointed down the hallway on their left, the floor a highly polished dark grey color, with many thick metal doors protruding slightly from the also-metal walls. Everything was _metal_.

His eyebrow lowered, although it was almost sure it was going to be called up again. He inclined his head. "Thank you."

They had to weave and sometimes push their way through the massive number of people in the hallway, some were on the uncomfortable looking benches that lined the walls between each door, and there was even a old lady with a massive platypus bear next to her, patiently waiting for the room nearby to free up for her appointment.

The doorway at the end was open, and Tenzin led them over to it, inside was a small crowd of officers, talking among themselves as they waited impatiently, with everyone facing a raised portion of the room that held a wooden podium, with a delicate looking microphone resting on top of it. A few of them were bandaged, and others kept favoring a leg for balance.

As Korra stood next to Tenzin, and kept her gaze away from the troublesome idiot just behind her shoulder, her eyes softened, and she couldn't help feeling responsible for the injured men and women in their, still doing their jobs.

She was shaken out of her self-doubts by Tenzin's hand on her shoulder. They entered, with some in the crowd turning to look at the new arrivals, quite a few of them did a double take and immediately turned back to the podium. Tai thought he saw Korra smirk at that. They moved to the far edge of the crowd, standing behind a pair of very talkative officers.

"You heard?" The shorter one whispered, having to crane his neck to look his taller comrade in the eye.

His taller comrade nodded curtly, wisps of dark hair poking out from under her hat. "'Course I did, Hei, it's a damn shame."

"Yeah, Chief actually looked out for us, I have a bad feeling about her replacement."

"I'm betting on Tarrlok. Slimy bastards been after her ass for years."

He saw the short officer nod. "Things are bad enough as they are. Why wasn't Makei picked for the job? He's our best guy. Saikhan's a good guy, but he's not leadership material."

"Fucking politics, Hei. It's always politics. It's a wonder Chief didn't give it up sooner."

"You know why she did." his quiet voice answered her.

The one on the right seemed to sag a little, her shoulders drooping. "I know, hope she gets them back. Come on Hei, we got work to do."

They turned around, and Tai quickly stepped out of their way, they barely spared him a glance, but the young man - Hei - he saw who was behind him, and his mouth dropped a little. He stopped and scratched his head, confusion evident. "Wai-"

"Hei!"

His partner was at the door now, heading out into the hallway. He nodded vigorously and turned towards her, than back towards them, smiling awkwardly as he did so. "Coming, Nisha."

Korra waved a little at the nervous officer, only serving to make him stammer and redden even more.

Someone stepped out onto the raised platform, moving to stand at attention on the right side of the podium.

"Shut it!"

The crowd quietened down, and a few of the officers snapped to attention, staring directly at the very imposing man in front of them.

He stared directly ahead with one grey eye, with a simple black eye-patch covering his left one, he gave off the impression that the looks he gave would make someone do everything in their power to get whatever they were doing done. His hair was flat at the top and cut short, giving the top of his head a fuzzy black and silver finish. He wore the same uniform as everyone else, the only differences of note being that it was a fuller black than the others, and the armor was lighter and thinner, a simple silver disc hung in place of the normal golden police badge worn on the left breast.

He barely blinked as he noticed the three out of place members of the audience standing at the back, merely giving a imperceptible nod to Tenzin.

As the room finally gave it's full attention to him, he spoke, plainly and clearly with a authoritative baritone. "We've got a whole slew of cases and jobs to work through today, so I'll make this one short and sweet. As you may know, Chief Bei Fong has officially resigned from her post, and the position, after careful and prudent scrutiny of all candidates, has been given to Saikhan."

Tai heard Tenzin utter a phrase he would never hear from his master again. "Uh oh."

The barrel chested man seemed to share his sentiment, but was professional enough not to show it outright. The officers began to mumble, with a few looking frustrated and angry, voices began to rise.

"Quiet down!"

"But commander Makei-"

"No buts Ishi! It is how it is. Councilman Tarrlok. If you will."

"My thanks, Commander." An incredibly slimy unbodied voice said from the stages covered side.

Some of the men in the crowd began showing outright hostility as the politician walked on, clapping Makei on the shoulder as if he were comrades with him. Makei saluted stiffly and walked off of the platform, taking a position at the back of the room, near Tai, Korra and Tenzin.

"I thank you all, for your support and service to Republic City, I will do everything in my power to make sure that together with the new chief, we'll make the city a safer place for everyone, bender, and non-bend-"

"Just shut up, and let us do our jobs!"

The entire crowd laughed, and Tai saw Tarrlok's jaw clench tightly for a split second, before smiling pleasantly. He bowed to the crowd, and stepped off the stage, possibly realizing his wasted gesture as he walked towards the three of them. "Tenzin."

"What are you playing at Tarrlok?" he accused outright, sick and tired of the constant games he was forced to constantly play.

"I am just doing my job." he reassured, throwing a cold and malicious look at Korra as he did so. Immediately her shoulders sagged and she looked down at her feet, garnering a glare from the boy behind her.

"This isn't about the city, it's about how much influence you need!"

"The decision has been made, there were no other suitable candidates for Lin's position. The law enforcement needs leadership, and they have picked Saikhan for the job."

"Tarrlok, you are playing in dangerous territory!"

"Commander Makei will still be doing what he does best, I'll make sure that Saikhan won't get in his way. Don't you have a meeting to attend to with the other councillors, Tenzin?"

Tai watched his master do another thing he'd never though were possible, glare at him with the intent to maim and possibly kill. "This will not end well, Tarrlok. I hope the city doesn't pay for your consequences."

He turned to Korra and Tai. "I'll see you two right before sundown." he leveled a stare at the young councilman, before nodding to the two teens and walking towards the open door.

Tarrlok watched him leave, and sighed. "He should know whats best for the city."

"He does." Tai said.

"Indeed. I just get a bit worried that living on that island hasn't dulled him to the city's problems."

"Save it, just tell me what I need to do." The boy folded his arms together, averting the girls eyes at all costs.

"Right, to the point then. Follow me."

Tarrlok walked out into the hallway, Korra and Tai quickly followed him as he headed down a flight of stairs in the lobby. They went down two flights, before it leveled out into a network of gray corridors, they went past massive rooms holding all sorts of equipment, gyms, training areas, offices and interrogation rooms.

He opened a pair of metal doors, nodding to the two occupants of the room, the taller of them was in full police gear, wearing a full face helmet that resembled a snarling wolf, and obscured his features, only a light brown chin visible underneath it, the one next to him, was significantly shorter than he was, and had wide, amber eyes framed by shoulder length black hair, and wore a simple red tunic and leather leggings. A map of the city took up most of the wall, and around it were several pictures of Amon, and even more of his equalist followers. Korra frowned when she noticed that Tai had fixated on one in particular, and her thoughts about him softened for a moment.

A long table stood in the center of the room, identical to three others shoved up against the smooth and cold walls, on either end of the table was a latch, that anchored it to the others if need required it.

Tarrlok gestured for everyone to sit down. Korra sat down first, making sure to keep a few chairs free between her and Tai. The raven haired girl sat on a chair directly opposite him, glancing in his direction every now and then. Her friend sat across from Korra, and kept his gaze on the map.

"Avatar, Tai. Meet the other half of your squad."

The girl stood up from her seat, bowing towards them. "My name is Sensha, a pleasure to meet you both." She sat back down, her pale cheeks flushing slightly. The enigmatic armored fellow stood up silently, nodding to them both. "Boto."

Korra stiffened, and nodded rigidly as he sat back down. What the?

Tarrlok cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention to him and the map. "If we're finished?"

He pointed to a bogglingly dense cluster of buildings near the city's southern waterfront. "This is the Ling-Shan industrial district, unofficially known as the 'walk'. It used to refine and purify rare metals brought down from the mountains around Republic City, chief among these metals were platinum and tungsten. From the reports of the incident at the Sato manor, the equalist machines seemed to be entirely made up from these two metals. Meaning they have almost complete immunity against fire bending, and metal bending attacks."

He dragged his finger across to a picture of a group of men and women wearing clashing colors, noticeable even with the sepia tone photographs.

"These men and women are big-shots from each of the bending triads. Taken at a rare moment of them _not_ tearing each other apart." He pointed to the massive giant on the left side of the photo. "Quan the Quaker. Head enforcer of the Rolling Moles Triad. Earth benders."

His finger dragged over to the thin and incredibly haughty-looking woman on the opposite side from Quan. "Oranis, one of the three Red Poles of the Agni Kais. Fire benders."

Finally he settled on the man in between both of them, with eyes the colour of the deep ocean abyss, and his white teeth sharpened to a fine point, he had the look of a predator about him, even _more so_ than the other two. "And we have Rorik, head honcho of the Red Monsoons. Water Benders." His finger settled onto a picture of a warehouse haphazardly shoved in between two high rise apartment buildings. "This is one of the known meeting places of the triads."

"Also known as killing grounds." Boto grimly stated. Sensha glanced at him worryingly, while Korra clenched her hands unknowingly and Tai merely nodded.

Tarrlok nodded as well. "It lies at a junction, where all of the triads turf converges, always comes up in the headlines every month or so."

"But." He pointed to a photo take from across a street, focusing on a window inside which a group of masked figures wearing dark uniforms sat around a table, one of them was hooded, and the other was unmasked, a girl in her very early 20's or so with grey eyes and pale skin. "This particular group of Equalists has been spotted more on three separate occasions in the area, we believe them to be a hit squad."

"They're waiting for the triads to set up a meeting point, and then they'll swoop in for their prizes." Tai answered.

"Good deduction. That's where we come 'll meet with an informant near the area, they will give us the time and day of the meeting, and when the Equalists go after the leaders, we restrain and apprehend both parties." Tarrlok smiled like a cat at his cunning.

Korra eyed him suspiciously. "I'm pretty sure they won't come alone, there's only four of us. Granted, I am the Avatar."

"I'm getting to that. Your squad will be inserted by drop ship, at a Police outpost just south of the district's edge. From there, you and Boto, will meet the informant, while Tai and Sensha will scout out the warehouse. You'll all meet back at the outpost with the strike team and crash the meeting. Boto will be in charge. Got it?"

Sensha and Boto nodded, and immediately left the room.

"So what's their story?" Tai asked.

"Sensha is a fire bending prodigy, I recruited her after a anti bending faction attacked and destroyed her village four years ago."

"And Boto?"

"A member of the Southern Water Tribe, he actually came to me a couple of years ago. We have history."

"Are we the only members of your task force?" He pressed, wanting to know if anyone would get in his way with Amon.

The politician shook his head with a smirk. "Of course not. Your squad is meant only for infiltration and reconnaissance, nothing more."

"Will we be needed everytime the Equalists show up?"

Tarrlok chuckled. "Only if you're offering. It's quite rare for an operation this squad does to last more than a few hours. Essentially, your squad is only involved in flashpoint operations. Don't tell me you have other things to do?"

"Yeah. Studying."

He smirked as the councilman's head shook. "This is more important than books."

"Tai! Let's get going!" Korra was standing next to the other two, waiting impatiently with her arms crossed.

He nodded and left the room and Tarrlok behind, following the group to a freight elevator at the end of the hall.

* * *

_Ling-Shan Industrial District, Police Outpost._

The heavy whump-whump of the airship seemed to be talking for everybody, as they all sat in the passenger compartment, staring out of the windows, or in the case of Tai and Sensha, getting to know each other.

"You know, I can bend fire." He eloquently began, not quite sure if he was already bragging or not.

"That's nice." she nodded and smiled at him before looking back at the mid-morning city below.

"And air."

She blinked twice and stepped back from the window, and looked at him with her head tilted. "That's odd."

"Yeah, I'm a rarity."

"Still doesn't compare to all four of 'em." He ground his teeth quietly at the sound of her haughty tone, glancing daggers at Korra as she chuckled and turned back to looking out at the rapidly growing buildings.

"Anyway." He turned back to Sensha, and was momentarily lost in her stunningly beautiful eyes. With a start he noticed her mouth was moving as well.

"-at do you think Tai?"

"...Yes." He dumbly stated, going for his default answer to a question he didn't understand or hear.

She laughed and he felt his cheeks tinge red. "You didn't hear me did you?"

"I'm sorry." he mumbled.

"Don't be, it's alright." She smiled at him, showing how cute her dimples were...no,no, focus!

"Umm so, do you like Republic City?" He asked.

"Lived here all my life, I have to love it. It can get a little big sometimes, but I'm living with my grandma, and where we are it's not so bad. What about you?"

He walked over to the window, and pointed at the island in Yue bay. "There."

"The air temple?" she said with not a small tone of wonder.

"Yeah it's kind of temporary though."

"I'm sorry, were you living on the streets before?" she carefully asked, taking in his rather ramshackle appearance.

He laughed and held up his hands. "What? No, no, no, nothing like that! I'm just a traveler."

She perked up. "Oh!...so you don't have a place where you can come home to?"

"Well I guess the island is becoming like that for me. Although it has gotten a little crowded recently." that reminded him. "I should tell Bolin to stop taking m-"

"Wait Bolin? Does that mean you are living with _Mako_ and _Bolin_?" Her eyes practically sparkled at the mere uttering of their names and it looked she was about ready to lose her balance..

"Uhh, Yeah. And Asami Sato as well."

"The daughter of Hiroshi Sato?"

"That's the one."

"What happened?"

"Well, Korra told me that Mako and Bolin were going to stay in Asami's father's mansion, until he was exposed as a-"

The whumping noise ceased, and a door at the front of the compartment was flung open, with a middle aged, balding man pulling down a lever nearby. He looked outside, watching spools of thick rope launch towards the top of the building below, locking into heavy looking weights. The winchs activated, and brought them closer to the building with a slight lurch. The pilot grumbled, and after a few moments opened the door.

"Everybody out!"

Boto nodded and exited first, with Korra following him closely. Tai and Sensha made their way over, this somehow annoyed the old man. "Come on, I haven't got all day!"

Tai rolled his eyes as he passed through, and waited at the lip of the roof for Sensha. As soon as everyone was off, the airship retracted its lines, and pulled away from the roof, heading off to a unknown destination.

"Come on." Boto was waiting by a fire escape, which wound it's way down the back of the building to the alleys below. They descended, touching solid ground a few minutes later. He held up a hand, and took off his helmet. His chin was square, and could probably be used as a lantern frame. His eyes were a light blue, and overall he was of a fairly solid build, Tai guessed he'd have no shortage of girls all over him if he took the helmet off more regularly.

"Boto-"

"Sorry I couldn't say anything back at the station Korra, not with _him_ around."

"No it's fine, but...heh, how long has it been?"

he scratched the back of his neck. "Probably, four years or so."

"I...you idiot." She scowled and punched him on the shoulder.

He winced, feeling it underneath the armor. And smiled sheepishly, "Sorry. Couldn't really talk to anyone."

"Why is it, every guy I know does something so stupid!" She glared at Boto, and more pointedly, at Tai.

"Uh, do you two know each other?" Sensha asked.

"We played together as kids. They really didn't like you sneaking out to do that did they?"

She shrugged indifferently. "If Katara said it was okay, that's all I needed."

"How is she?" Boto asked, with a wistful look.

"I don't really know, kind of haven't had a chance to write to her."

"Umm, aren't we supposed to be doing something right now? Really hate to break this up." Tai asked.

"Oh. Yes." Boto shrugged and his cheeks flushed a bit. Nothing at all like Tai had pictured a guy wearing a fearsome suit to be like.

"Do you know how to signal the informant?"

"Yeah, I do. Don't worry about that. The warehouse is only two blocks from here. Just head up to the roof of one of the buildings across the street, should be a direct path there. Good luck." He nodded at Korra and they both left towards the street. Tai and Sensha took the other way, so as not to arouse suspicion.

They passed a pair of juggling bears on their way across, and Tai quickly flicked a coin into the hat between them. When the traffic allowed it, they made it to the other side, quickly ducking into one of the alleyways that led to the backs of the buildings lining the street.

Once they were behind the building, they found a fire escape that lead all the way to the roof, the only obstacle being the ladder was out of their reach. Sensha sighed. "We'll have to find another way up." Meanwhile Tai cracked his knuckles and assumed a very theatrical and unnecessary pose. "Watch and learn."

Without warning he wrapped his arms around her, and pointed his open palm towards the ground. The air beneath their feet rushed up, and he directed the flow towards the fire escape. With a clang they landed, and Sensha freed herself from his embrace. And suddenly he felt very self conscious as she smiled weakly at him. "Good job."

"It's what I do."

They rushed up the steps, steadily ascending to the roof. Once they got there they could see the back of the warehouse from where they were. Tai looked for a way across, and studied the layout of the roofs between them and their target. He scanned from left to right, and found their path.

"This way."

He ran towards the roof on their left, clearing the gap with no effort. Sensha closely followed him, stumbling a little as she touched down. She nodded, to show she was okay, and he continued, running towards the back edge of the roof, he jumped again, rolling to negate the impact as he landed on the next roof. She followed as best she could, but they ran into a problem when the gap between them and the next roof was too wide.

"May I?" He held his hand out to Sensha, without a word she took it, and held on tight. With his other hand he whirled it around, and ran forwards. He threw it forwards, and the air beneath them carried them across the gap with no effort at all. They landed softly on the other side, and walked to the next edge, overlooking a massive space filled with containers, all of which surrounded the warehouse.

"Looks like it's a no go from this side, let's- get down!" Sensha pulled him down, so that they were both behind the low wall that ran around the roof's edge. Tai poked his head up, and spotted a group of figures on a roof right across from the warehouse. "It's the Equalists."

One of their number wore no mask, and was scanning the area with a pair of binoculars. They both froze, unsure of what to do. Tai looked up again, and and saw the binoculars looking straight at him. He cursed and ducked back down. They waited for what seemed like forever, until Sensha looked over the wall, and saw that the roof they occupied was now deserted.

"They're gone. Why'd you swear before?" She asked.

"I think one of them saw me."

She sighed and shook her head. "Hopefully they'll think it's just a dumb kid they saw. Let's get back to the others."

* * *

A crowd of children, wearing patched together clothes, ran around the place, some kicked a empty and beaten up can around, some of the luckier ones tossed a half deflated ball between them, while others sat and talked or mingled with the people passing by, some making off with a few shiny objects for their trouble.

One of the tallest of them, stood around, adjusting a tan colored train conductors hat every once in a while. Korra shot a questioning glance at Boto as they approached the boy. "Boto?"

The tall southern triber smiled lazily as he extended a hand in greeting. "Skoochy! How you been?"

"Same old, whaddya need?" the urchin tilted his head an arched an eyebrow, already getting straight to the point. He noticed Korra, and a snigger came out of him.

"Actually..." he dug through a pocket on his uniform, and came out with a bag that jingled whenever touched. "I think it's more about what _you_ need." He tossed the bag to Skoochy, who grinned obnoxiously as he caught it and slipped it into his pocket.

"Whaddya need to know?"

"Triads are having a meeting at the old warehouse the block over, know when?"

Skoochy scratched the side of his nose as he shrugged. "Yeah, right after sundown, a big one too, all of the top dogs are gonna be there." He glanced at Korra. "Who's she? Girlfriend?"

If he was hoping Boto's cheeks would redden, he was in for a surprise. The young smiled and shook his head as Korra's cheeks burned. "Nope. Just a friend of mine."

"Okay. I bet dating the Avatar would have gained you a little cred around here." He smirked and ran off, anticipating Korra's train of thought before she got there herself.

"...Anyway?" He glanced at Korra, averting her eyes for a bit.

"Skoochy huh?" She said. Her eyes narrowing as a warning.

"Yep."

"Smart kid?"

"Has to be where he lives."

"Uh huh. We got the info, can we head back now?"

"Yes."

She walked away first, trying to stifle a laugh that threatened to engulf her entire body in hilarity.

Boto sighed and followed, trying to focus on the mission.

* * *

_Ling-Shan District, 6:00PM._

"There they all are. Just like Skoochy said." Boto glanced at Korra. "Remind me to tip him next time."

She chuckled and looked back to the massive warehouse windows, which gave them a ample view of the scene inside. Three uniquely dressed people, each with a entourage of around five guards each, were staring at each other, their mouths moving to make words that unknowable to those looking in on them.

At least two members from each side split from the main group, presumably to make their way outside to patrol and make sure they weren't interrupted.

Tai noticed this. "Something doesn't add up. They haven't got that many men with them. You'd think with something like this going down, they'd bring more thugs along for protection."

Boto nodded, and rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he surveyed the scene. "My guess is they're idiots."

He stifled a laugh as Sensha glanced at them. "So what do we do?"

"We observe. Once the Equalists you and Tai saw show up, we'll take them all down. Got a squad of metal benders ready to go at the bottom of this building.

They continued watching, seeing some of the thugs fidget and eye their rivals, probably trying to psyche them out. Others kept an eye on their bosses, while they argued and bickered among themselves. The woman, Oranis, seemed to be winning her negotiations with Quan, while Rorik looked on impassively with a bored face beginning to show. The massive earth bender's face reddened, in response to something Oranis had said. They could hear the shouts from their perch as the Earth Benders began to surge towards the fire benders. Oranis jumped back into the middle of her entourage, with Quan directing a massive wall of earth at her, which was blown into pieces by a combined attack. As soon as both groups focused on each other, Rorik merely made a simple gesture to his men.

They made sweeping motions with their arms, and traced several large arcs with their movements. Suddenly the building began to fill with thick, soupy fog, and just before their view was completely obscured, they saw seven shadowy blurs drop down into the melee from the opposite window. Several shouts of alarm were heard, and the building was thrown into a utter state of chaos.

"That's our cue." Boto ran to the edge of the roof and looked down, spotting the commander at the bottom. He gave him a thumbs up, and Makei nodded. He led the squad of heavily armored officers towards the buildings perimeter, and they ripped through the fence without any effort.

He turned to the other three. "Let's go."

Tai took the scabbard off of his back, and held it in both hands. He leapt off of the building to the shipping crates below, slowing his descent with a controlled push of the air to slow him down. The other followed, using the fire escape nearby to descend after him.

He kept running, jumping onto the shipping crates to get easy access to the buildings roof. As he got closer he could hear the sounds of fighting from within, of the earth being disturbed, of fire being manipulated to deadly extent, and the faint and raspy breathing of gas masks. All of this inside the fog. He scaled the buildings side, running up a slanted roof to the next level of the building. He jumped, grabbing the roof's edge and pulling himself up. He found himself in front of one of the massive side windows of the warehouse, currently staring into the thick soupy fog spilling out from every opening.

Without hesitation he dived into it, clearing a small bubble of clear air around him for visibility. He slowed his descent and hit the floor, immediately ducking as a ball of rock flew over him, barely missing the top of his head. Working on instinct, he swung his sword around, catching a earth bender on the side of the head with a solid hit, with a sigh he crumpled to the floor instantly, just as a wave of fire passed over him. He moved cautiously, extending his senses to detect disturbances in the fog around him, being an aerial element, it was simply done.

Behind, three metres. He turned around, and dropped to the floor, sweeping his right leg in a wide arc. It caught someones foot, and a woman wearing a blue and red tunic cried out as she lost her balance, she wobbled, and it gave the mound of earth flying at her an opening. It slammed into her chest, sending her flying back into the soupy fog. He sensed a massive object coming at him from the side, and he quickly turned to face it, swinging his weapon to create a crescent of wind, it flew forwards, slicing through the projectile, it dissipated, leaving a gruff voice to wonder out loud what that was.

Tai didn't stand still, he ran forwards towards the source, and leapt towards it, crashing into a absolute giant of a man. He collided with his iron like chest, seeing stars swirl at the corners of his vision. The man barked a deep laugh, and hoisted him up with one hand. With a snarl he sent his other gigantic fist towards Tai.

"Hey!" He was interrupted by a tumble of rocks slamming into his side, stumbling him a little and causing him to drop the agile boy to the floor. Korra hoisted Tai to his feet, smirking.

"No time to boast, there's two of them behind you!"

She whipped around instantly, and slammed her hands together, a massive spout of fire erupted, and rushed forwards with concussive force, dissipating a good twenty metres away. A sword suddenly rushed towards her from the side, it's blade wickedly curved, made of a blackened metal, a gloved hand flexed slightly behind the thick spiked handguard as it guided the blade forwards.

"Duck!" Tai shouted. Almost instantly she did so, and thrust her palm towards the floor. A patch of earth sprung up under the blade, knocking it off course. Than another one appeared, slashing viciously at her from the opposite side. Tai quickly threw himself in front of her, his sword's naked blade sparking as the heavier metal hit it's edge. He grunted, and held onto it with one hand, bringing his other around to blast a gust of wind at the unknown attacker.

As he was distracted by the two swords, Oranis fired a massive stream of flames at his back. Sensha dropped in behind him and whipped her arms around, banishing the blistering attack into nothing. She responded with a two handed thrust forwards, sending a burning retort towards her. The raven haired woman cursed and dodged out of the way. "Come on little girl!"

She nodded to Tai, and ran towards the Agni Kai leader with a snarl on her features. Great breaths of fire flashed and burned, illuminating parts of the grey fog with a dull orange tone. Sensha ducked and weaved, barely dodging the much stronger flames Oranis threw at her, her face was one of unbridled ferocity as she snarled and launched a relentless assault on the teen. She spun and redirected the flames as best she could, thankful for the heat-resistant material of her clothing.

Bit by bit she was being pushed back, and her eyes widened in surprise as she found a corner of the warehouse two metres behind her. Her opponent seemed to sense this, and snarled as she leapt straight at her, a chilling look in her eyes as she extended a hand wreathed in flames towards her chest.

"Sensha!" A armored figure crash tackled Oranis, both of them slamming into the wall nearby with a clang. Pinning her to the ground was Boto, his light brown chin visible underneath the snarling visage of his wolf helmet. The fire bender raised her head and Boto slammed a fist into it to get her out for good. With a sigh her eyes fluttered and closed. "You okay?"

She walked towards him a bit unsteadily. "Yes, just a bit shaken."

"Happens to all of us."

"I didn't see any of the Equalists in there."

"They're probably around, most likely around the back of the fight. They do the smart thing."

She nodded, and they ran back in, Sensha yelling a cry of alarm as she pulled Boto back, a black sword blade slicing the air in front of him.  
They ignored it, and kept going, only for the smile of a shark to rear up towards them, as Rorik tripped up Sensha, and put a boot on her throat, already pushing down. Her eyes went wide, and she looked desperately at him, a choked gurgle as a plea for help.

Boto acted quickly, whipping his leg around to slam into the criminal. He smiled again, and caught it with one hand, a ugly saw toothed knife appearing in the other. He pointed it at his victim, and Boto quickly stopped struggling.

"You move a inch, and she gets it." he noticed the look of helpless anger on the youth's face, and smiled. "What's the matter, not having fun Boto?" using his name caused the boy to glare daggers at him.

"Leave her, Rorik."

"Why should I? I like fun."

"This is between you and me, she's not a part of it."

"Oh you're right about that. But that's what makes it exciting; watching who gets caught up in someones business."

He smiled at Sensha, sending shivers up her spine. She gasped for air as he put the pressure on, leaving a gigantic bruise on her neck. Boto had a desperate look in his eyes, mind working at how he could use his abilities to get her away from the madman. Shouting came from outside, as a massive rend in the buildings metal wall opened it to the outside, revealing a line of armored men charging in, sending tendrils of metal into the fog. A few of them hit their targets, and members from the Agni Kais and Rolling Moles were dragged out of the fog, wrapped in a coil of metal wire.

Rorik's eyes barely flickered towards the disturbance, instead focusing on Boto, boring into him. "I'll see you around, _boy_." He smiled again, showing his white teeth, all of which were filed to a insanely sharp point. He lifted his foot off of Sensha, allowing her to roll back towards her friend. Boto bent down to help her up, supporting her by placing her arm on his shoulder.

The man disappeared into the soupy fog, his terrible smile the last they saw of him. "Guys, you alright?"

Boto turned them around, seeing Tai. "We're fine!" he glanced at Sensha. "Damn, I'm out of energy!"

She swallowed, gasping a bit as it gave her a bit of pain. Korra ran up to them. "No need. I'm not." she gathered all of the water particles in the fog into a blob, thinning it to mere wisps of its former self. She guided the water to Sensha's neck, and it pulsed softly as it dulled the pain.

Sensha nodded gratefully as Korra worked on her neck and shoulder, running the blob over the heavily bruised portions until they began to diminish in size. "Thanks." she shook her head experimentally, glad that the pain was no longer there as Korra smiled at her, her tongue stuck out as she concentrated on controlling the blob.

Tai sheathed his sword, looking around at the carnage, noticing that none of the Equalists were in the building. A scraping noise alerted him, and he looked up one of the massive side windows. A black boot disappeared through it. He turned to the others. "I'll take care of it!"

"Tai wait-" Korra looked up from Sensha's shoulder, worry in her eyes as she took a step forward.

But he didn't wait. He sprinted towards the window, using a push of air to get him up to it. He ran outside, nearly slipping on the wet roof panels as he left the sounds of frustration and worry behind . The air was thick with lashes of rain, and the wind was blowing furiously. He paid it no mind, focusing on the hooded figure disappearing over a roof top fifty metres away, a pair of black swords sheathed onto his back.

He found a path among the shipping crates, and started running. He leapt from the warehouse, rolling to negate the impact as he hit the top of a red crate. He kept going, leaping across to a blue one, and than lunged upwards, grabbing the edge of the one stacked above it. With a grunt he pulled himself up, the back of a apartment complex was visible past the fence line, and luckily held a fire escape near his level, it was just close enough for him to leap for. His fingers reached for the railing, getting a purchase on it, he held on tightly, any weaker grip would have made him slip off.

He clambered the stairs quickly, reaching the top of the roof in no time at all. The next building was a low and long one, only half the height of the one he stood on. As he leapt towards it's roof, he saw the fleeing group of equalists disappear yet again, too far away for him to keep track off. He didn't give up, and ran across the low building's roof after them. Suddenly the hooded equalist was in front of him, standing silently in the rain, head slightly bowed.

He skidded to a halt, slightly out of breath. He didn't take his eyes off of his obstacle, wary of his skills. Both of the black blades appeared, one in each hand, and he walked slowly towards Tai. The boy sent a blast of air at him, only for the swordsman to spin around it, and rush forward, both blades extended towards him. He cursed and let himself drop low, getting his sword out as he did so. He twisted out from under the twin points, and slashed at the figure from the left side. Inexplicably the Equalist took his head off, revealing a young man's face.

Tai hesitated, shock showing in his eyes. He quickly twisted the deadly blade off course and was rewarded by a swift and powerful kick to the chest. He coughed and spluttered, crying out in pain as he was sent sliding back across the wet concrete.

The young man's grey eyes bore into his with unbridled hatred.

"Big Brother?"


	7. The Reunion, and The Old Man

潮

* * *

_Ling-Shan District, Republic City._

Lashing swathes of rain fell over the city, with dark and terrible storm clouds dominating the skyline, making even tallest buildings as small as matchsticks. The city was being drowned by a torrent of water, and soon enough, warm lights appeared all across it, and airships immediately headed for the nearest berths, hoping to find shelter from the raging elements of the sky. The roads emptied of traffic, boats were put in, and the whole city slowed to a crawl.

He coughed and sputtered with each breath, curled in pain at his brother's feet. Rain traveled down the two black swords he held, falling off the tip with a plonk as it met the hard concrete roof.

"Why?" He asked between fits of pained breathing, looking up at his expressionless face, and cold grey eyes. His brother merely dipped his head a little, as if acknowledging he was being addressed. As he did this, he noticed the vestiges of cracked and scarred skin, visible behind his ears.

"My reasons are mine alone, little brother." He spoke with a clipped and neutral tone, contrasting with his fearsome appearance.

Tai managed to chuckle a bit, but with no traces of happiness or joy. "Oh, I think I can stay a while." he groaned as the pain flared up in his chest, forcing him to stop talking or moving.

"It does not matter. You will be dead, and my objective achieved." Remorse was completely absent as he gazed down at the pitiful boy on the ground.

His brain screamed at him to ask the obvious question, but he ignored it. "Dead? I didn't realise you still missed mr Limpy." He teased, purely to get some kind of reaction out his big brother.

"A simple child's toy, I left it, and everything, long ago."

He swallowed. "I thought you died, Tarrin."

Using his name had a effect on him, albeit a very small one. His eyes appeared to get some feeling behind them. "I thought you did too." they quickly lost it though, and the same dull, eyes appeared. "I need to end this."

"Why are you working with _him_?" Tai quickly asked, noticing Tarrin had edged a little closer, leading with both of his black swords. He quickly glanced over to his left, seeing the gleaming blade of his lying on its side. With a little bit of luck...

"He gave me purpose. Gave me a reason." The young man replied in a flat monotone, no feeling or sense in his voice.

"He killed _them_." Tai countered, not hiding the snarl that came up.

"No, you did." He replied simply and calmly.

Tai couldn't believe his ears. He got some feeling back in his fingers, and felt the pain in his chest dull a little, allowing him to breathe more easily. With careful and deliberate movements, he traced a sweeping arc with his index finger, hiding it behind his back so that Tarrin wouldn't notice immediately.

"He's lying!" Tai shouted, stalling for time while he completed the precise movements. Slowly he rested his hand on the ground, facing his palm towards the sky, ignoring the drops of rain splattering onto it. He quickly stole a glance at where his weapon lay, and saw it drag in his direction slightly, aligning with his palm.

"Amon does not lie." He raised one of his swords upwards, angling the tip over Tai's chest.

"_I _wouldn't trust a masked terrorist if I were you." He shouted suddenly, and swept his leg, stumbling Tarrin a bit. He focused, and his sword returned to his open hand, his fingers closed around the handle, feeling safer there. Tarrin rushed forwards, launching a scything flurry of moves. He blocked them, and tried to dance away from him, to use his bending safely. Soon the flurry of blows began to push him back, and he cried out as he slipped on a puddle of muddy water, and was momentarily blinded by the spray of water in his eyes. Desperately he spun around, managing to dodge the deadly swords at the same time, the droplets around him began to melt away into vapor, as he conjured a massive ring of fire around himself. He projected it outwards, forcing Tarrin to dance backwards, an uncharacteristic look of doubt in his eyes.

Tai was breathing hard after that, and wasn't ready for him. Tarrin lodged another kick in his chest, causing him to double over again. He aimed his free hand at the ground, using a pulse of air to get himself steady. Tarrin had spun around, using his momentum to loose a vicious and brutal swing of his sword at him. Without thinking, Tai weakly held his blade up, the black metal slammed into it, shearing off a good portion of the weapon's edge and nearly wrenching it out of his hands. He cursed, and began to gather flames around him again. Tarrin was ready this time, and dodged to his left effortlessly, his two swords trailing behind him. He saw his thumbs depress the bottom of both handles, and immediately the blades folded downwards, disappearing into the rough, metal blocks.

He twirled around, and slammed both blocks into Tai's side, winding him. As the boy stumbled, off balance from the unexpected move, he switched to a flurry of quick jabs, sending lances of pain spiking up his side and left arm. Tai growled and, on instinct, turned his arm towards Tarrin, his palm splayed outwards. He roared as the pain intensified, and caused his vision to flicker and blacken dangerously. He suddenly lost his senses, and tasted blood on his tongue. Tarrin lashed his boot out, catching him viciously in his already ravaged side. He slid across the slick ground, and could only stare upwards, unable to move. His brother depressed the bottom of one of the handles, and the blade flipped back out. He walked towards his defeated sibling, the obsidian tip of the sword poking towards him like the end itself.

A fork of lightning materialized in the dark skies, lighting up the entire city with a white flash. It vanished instantly, going back to the dark murky colors of the storm. Tai watched it, and heard a voice ring out to him from the warehouse's direction.

"Tai!"

He closed his eyes, not caring who needed him this time. He sensed the shadow of his big brother press towards him, absently wondering what made him into that kind of person. He was suddenly wrenched out of the dark twilight of semi-consciousness, and opened his eyes. Realizing he could move a little now, he turned to his left, and saw Korra standing in front of him, standing in Tarrin's way.

She glared at him with ocean blue eyes, a snarl visible on her. Her arms were crossed together, and she didn't even shiver as the rain and wind lashed and raged at her. "You know who I am?"

"Avatar." Tarrin replied in a guttural growl.

"That's right. Him down there." She pointed to Tai's sprawled form. "He's my friend. Bad choice."

"He would have fared a better chance if he didn't come alone."

"Don't care. You're going down."

"You don't know who you are facing, little girl."

"A idiot who thinks he can take on a master bender with two fancy toys." she beckoned with both hands, daring him to try his luck. "Try me."

"Enough." He sheathed his weapons on his back. Korra waited, eyes darting back to Tai every once in while. Have to get him out of here. Tarrin was still.

He made the first move, dashing towards Korra. She smirked and wind milled her arms, plucking the rain from the sky and combining the drops into a thick whip, she slashed it horizontally, but he jumped over it with no effort and loosed a kick towards her, she dodged around him in a circular movement, still keeping the water whip moving, She coiled it up and lashed it out towards him, he ducked and threw one of the handles at her, it struck her on the shoulder, leaving a bruise.

She grunted and lost control of the whip, the collected water splashing to the ground. She danced backwards, using her arms to direct bursts of fire at him in a constant barrage. He dodged every one of them, and got closer, he went for a jab in the stomach, before feinting and sweeping her legs out from under her, she cried out in alarm and crashed down, quickly rolling away as he went to stomp down.

The Avatar sprung back up and kicked down with her foot, raising a thick disc of earth into the air, it spun towards him, hitting him on the shoulder and forcing him back. She continued this tactic, using a long string of pushes, stomps, and throws to direct chunks of the roof at him. A few did get him, but he didn't look worn down at all, running at her full pelt. She tried to twist out of the way but he vaulted over, and had her in a iron hold. She gasped for air as his grip tightened, he growled, and flipped her forwards, sending her flying, she managed to stop herself from crashing into the ground, and quickly rolled onto her belly, facing Tarrin. She slammed the ground with her palm in four different places, and four cubes rose up. She sent them forwards at varying speeds, tripping him up. She got up, and stomped her foot down, causing a massive wall of earth to rise, she sent it forwards and it smacked into him, throwing him back a good five meters.

As she released the wall and it sunk back down, he had already recovered, leaping towards her with one of the swords fully extended, she tried a risky move, running towards him and dropping into a slide, she jabbed her elbow into the ground, and a spike of earth rose up underneath him. Like a flash his hand shot back, grabbing the tip and using it to spin around and crash into her.

His fist crunched up into her chin, and she cried out as she reacted, shunting him back with a block of concrete. It was sloppily done, and it barely gave him pause as he beared down on her, grabbing onto her arm with both hands and spinning her around, she tried to break free, but he was too strong. He suddenly let go, and she was severely dazed as she fought to stand up straight. She was panting and nearly out of breath, but not out of fight. She pressed towards him, now on the offensive, lashing out with low kicks, and punches aimed at his sides, even though he avoided them gracefully, often getting her with one twice as hard, she didn't care, only aiming to keep him from noticing the roof was running out.

Suddenly one of his heels found nothing but air, and he grunted in surprise. She narrowed her eyes, and quickly jabbed his side with a quick punch, causing his eyes to widen in confusion, she pressed the advantage, grabbing his collar and throwing him backwards towards the center of the roof. He landed hard and lay there for a second before rolling back to his feet and backing off, eying her warily.

"I've underestimated your skill." he stated.

She hid her panting with a chuckle. "Want to see more?"

"This won't end in your favor."

"Wait and see." She stole a glance at Tai, noticing increasing amounts of movement as he began to recover from his vicious beating. She quickly came up with a plan, to distract Tarrin from finishing off her friend. She opened her mouth. "Before I beat you. I'd like to know your name."

"Irrelevant."

"Oblige me."

"Tarrin."

"Tarrin. Grey eyes, same face. You're Tai's brother." She stated, hiding her surprise through a deduction. She frowned. "Why did you do this to him?"

"He needs to pay for the _fire_."

"Nah uh. You're acting under Amon."

He seemed to bristle slightly, and she hid a smirk behind a expressionless mask. Her eyes darted over to Tai, noticing the steady breathing and his eyes flashing open, looking straight at her. He blinked, and moaned a little, Tarrin looked at him, and started towards him again. She quickly dashed forward, gathering the rain into a mass of water, she guided it towards Tarrin, and he reacted in the blink of an eye. He spun around the stream, and ran towards her, and leapt, blade extended like the finger of fate. She barely had time to cry out when the weapon bit into her shoulder, tipping her backwards. Her eyes were wide with shock, and she touched a hand to it, hardly believing what just happened.

Her vision dimmed, tinged with a crimson redness, and she plunged into unconsciousness. She didn't even feel it as the cold steel was pulled out of the wound, and her body was being pushed towards the edge of the roof like a sack of potatoes. Tarrin rested a boot on her, and was ready to tip her over the edge and into the alley below.

Suddenly Tai crashed into him, using a massive blast of wind to fling him to the other end of the roof. The Avatar fell, and he dove after her. He used a blast of wind to steady himself, gritting his teeth as the pain threatened to overcome him. He grabbed hold of her, ten meters above a dumpster filled with rubbish. He yelled and called up a cushion of air to break their fall. It hurt like hell as he hit first, Korra's weight driving into his stomach and winding him.

Tai lost control of the cushion and it pushed them upwards, he lost hold of her and she fell onto the dumpster, blood now covering her arm entirely. He was spun around, and fell face first into the wet ground. His entire body screamed at him in pain, and he ignored it, pushing it to the back of his mind.

He got up, stumbling as his ankle gave way, he held onto the lip of the dumpster, using his other hand to fish for a bandage he kept in the inside pockets. Weakly, and aware that he was about to collapse entirely, he pressed the white material against her wound and started winding, not caring for neatness. He stopped when half the roll was used up, the blood began to soak through again, and he tried to summon the energy to do it again. But his vision suddenly dimmed, and he stumbled forwards, his hand scrabbling to keep a grip on the dumpster, his foot slipped on a deepening puddle of water, and he fell to the ground, completely spent. He thought he heard a voice coming closer, but was too far gone to summon the energy to answer.

He slipped into the black completely.

* * *

_Police Headquarters, Republic City_

The wind howled without relent, buffeting the black airship as it neared it's berthing point. A massive sliding door on it's side rolled open.

"Let's get them inside!" Makei directed his squad of metal benders, as their airship set anchor on the main landing spire. Long lengths of metal wire tethered them to the domed structure, and they walked a long line of freshly caught prisoners down the ramps, sending them down a freight elevator under armed guard.

The two most dangerous of these criminals. Quan and Oranis, were led down last, with three men assigned to each of them, their hands were bound behind them, and the massive earth bender's feet were enclosed in specialized wooden cages, specifically designed to cut off access to the ground. Makei trailed behind all of them, keeping his good eye fixed on the two of them, never looking away.

The procession stopped for a moment as the freight elevator rose back up to meet them. The officers holding the two criminals walked on first, followed by the commander. He pulled a lever affixed to the wall down, and the elevator descended into the main building. The elevator shaft had massive lengths of wiring running up its walls, the passage for the power to get to the top of the building, and provide movement to the machine.

With a slight grinding squeal, as the sparsely oiled rails complained of their purpose yet again, it reached the ground level of the building, the iron grate on it folded upwards, revealing the main artery of the building. Two officers stepped through first, yelling at people to keep their distance from the procession, they did without hesitation, quickly stepping back to give them a clear run to the main lobby.

The wide room was relatively clear of people by the time they got there. Except for a tall, reedy, bald man standing by the reception desk, just finished talking with the receptionist. Makei heard him mutter a few words of thanks to her, than bowed before walking over to him.

"Mak!"

"Councilman." He greeted Tenzin brusquely. He glanced at the procession. And addressed a officer with a golden badge on his hat. "Sergeant, take the lead from here." The man nodded and snapped off a quick salute, and led the prisoners past the two of them.

Makei gestured for Tenzin to follow. "We'll talk in my office." He explained. He led the way, heading back up the main corridor before turning to head up a staircase climbing up three levels. He stopped ascending on the second floor, and led Tenzin down a wide hallway, with dark brown paneling for walls. And a well-kept red carpet running down it.

He passed a glazed window, which held a simple wooden door in its center. He opened it, and it swung away from them noisily, giving them access to his personal office. It was practically empty compared to the ones around it, the only comforts being the massive mahogany desk sitting in front of them, and two leather chairs facing it. On the other side of the desk was another leather chair, darker in colour than the other two. He closed the door and turned to Tenzin, waiting for the stream of questions.

"Sorry about that Tenzin, couldn't really talk back there."

"I understand, the councilman always keeps a watch on everybody of note." He replied, understanding his friend's meaning.

He crossed his arms. "Where are Korra and Tai?"

Makei rubbed the back of his bald head. "Still at the location where we picked up those gang members."

"Why didn't they go back with you and your squad?"

He sighed. "I'm afraid its standard procedure. Once they've embarked on a mission, Infiltration squads cannot be seen with the rank and file officers. If they are, it would be disastrous for all of the force. Although, it's more or less so the higher ups can save face when the press interrogates them. And so Tarrlok can deny their involvement."

"Are they safe?" he asked with a hint of concern.

"We picked up everyone we could find in that warehouse, but there was a equalist squad there. They bugged out once we got there though. They're fine." He wasn't exactly lying, but he never knew a place in the city that was completely safe and secure.

"Alright." His frown lessened a little. "How have you been, old friend?"

"Oh it's been sunshine and rainbows, let me tell you. Working under Saikhan? I can handle that. But having to see that weasel-snake show up his face in the station?"

Tenzin laughed, as did Makei. "I don't envy you Mak."

"I envy you though; you get to put the little runt in his place whenever you can!"

"The perks of leadership I guess." He stopped smiling, and his eyes grew serious. "Honestly, how do you think it will pan out?"

Makei rubbed his head. "I really don't know for certain. All I can hope to do is to keep the men doing their jobs and try to lessen his influence around here. All I can really do from my end."

"You know, you could run against him for the position." He held up his hands as his friend scowled. "I know how you feel about it. But Lin's second in command seems perfect for the challenge."

"Aaah fine. I won't be able to do anything until the delegates have arrived for the summit though."

"Summit?"

"Yeah. There's going to be a diplomatic summit taking place in a couple of months, and our fair city will be playing host."

"Amon will certainly be ready for something big then."

"All we can do is observe unfortunately. Hopefully we'll have the equalists contained by then."

He walked over to his desk, and opened the top drawer, causing a bottle of reddish brown liquor to roll noisily inside it. He grabbed two small glasses from the shelf nearby.

"Want one?" He offered.

"Alright."

They settled into a comfortable silence, with the slight tinkling of glasses and the sound of a liquid being poured into the glasses.

Makei handed one of them to Tenzin, and watched as he cast a critical look at the substance.

"Amberei?" he ventured.

"Only the good stuff." He smirked and downed his in one hit, gasping slightly as the liquid left a trail of fire down his throat, and settled into his stomach, giving him a bloom of warmth.

"Remember how we did this all the time?"

"I remember the time I took the blame for destroying a priceless painting." Tenzin pointed out, wincing as he remembered the devastated look on uncle Sokka when he beheld his destroyed 'masterpiece'.

Makei shrugged. "Your dad was pissed. Off."

Tenzin scowled, than burst into laughter, it was infectious, and Makei was soon laughing as well. He drank his in one gulp, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He sighed, and put the empty glass down on the table.

"How's Pema?" Makei asked.

"Fine, we're actually expecting. In the middle of Winter."

"You don't stop do you?" Makei teased.

Tenzin reddened, than burst out into a chuckle. "I think I have to go now."

"It was good seeing you Tenzin." His tone became a bit more serious. "I'll send word when Korra and her squad get back to the station."

"I hope she's alright."

"She's the avatar, I'm sure she can take care of herself."

"Hmm. Goodbye, Mak."

Tenzin bowed slightly, and left his friend in his office. He shut the door behind him as he walked out into the hallway, still uncertain about Korra and Tai. He headed back down the stairs, walking past the reception desk and saw Mako and Bolin sitting in some of the waiting chairs.

"It's getting pretty bad out there." Bolin explained.

Tenzin nodded, Mako looked at him. "So where's Korra?"

The older man sighed. "I'm afraid they're forced to make their own way back to the station. Part of procedure, the commander tells me."

The noise of a unique motorcycle engine rumbling was heard, the noise stopped and the doors were flung open by a young man wearing full police armor, and a wolf helm. Rain drops fell rolled down the smooth metal and dropped to the floor, soaking into it.

"Councilman Tenzin?" Boto asked.

Tenzin hid his surprise. "Yes?"

"My name is Lieutenant Boto, Korra and Tai are assigned to my infiltration squad."

"Where are they?"

"I lost sight of them when the Equalists were escaping, Tai ran after one of them, and after Korra finished healing another member of the squad, she went out there to find him." He sighed. "If you've got a quick way to get back there I can show you."

Mako and Bolin stood up, a determined look in their eyes. Tenzin nodded immediately, and lead them outside. Oogi was waiting nearby, taking shelter nearby.

Tenzin climbed to the spot behind his head, taking hold of the reins. The brothers quickly made their way up to the saddle, with Bolin helping Boto up after them.

With a slight grumble Oogi took off, Tenzin kept him at a low altitude, so they wouldn't run into the high winds and elements above them. He weaved the Bison between buildings and over roads, angling for a dimly lit portion of the waterfront.

Boto decided to strike up a conversation to pass the time. "So I've seen some of your games. Man you just knock them dead don't ya?"

Bolin answered him. "Sure do! With Korra on our team, we're unstoppable."

Mako glanced at them both, his arm hanging lazily over the side. "If it starts up again Bolin."

"Hey Boto. Have you known her for long?" Bolin ventured, trying to get a glimpse of the youth's backstory.

"Actually I grew up in the village near the White Lotus compound where she lived. They didn't allow anyone to see or talk to her, so I walked over one day and introduced myself. Master Katara convinced them to take me on as her training partner." He smirked, obviously remembering something from his childhood.

Bolin had a smile on his face, which conspicuously didn't reach his eyes. "Wow, that long? You two -uh- you must be close!" he nodded vigorously, prompting Mako to roll his eyes.

"I left the south pole when I was fourteen, about four years ago. That's the last she saw of me until now. She was pretty pissed off."

The younger teen nodded, and was silent.

Oogi growled, and Tenzin spoke up. "We're here, boys."

They were circling over a warehouse, with traces of water vapor rising up from the smashed in windows on both sides.

"Yeah this it!" Boto shouted to him. Tenzin nodded in response, guiding them to the front of the warehouse, just outside of it's main doors. Oogi landed and Tenzin guided him inside out of the rain. The great beast shook himself dry, forcing his passengers to wait before disembarking. Mako and Bolin slid off first, and immediately ran towards the other side of the warehouse.

Boto walked after them, arms crossed together as he glanced around the wrecked interior. Tenzin walked next to him. They followed Mako and Bolin to the center of the cavernous space, and they all stopped, Mako had a concerned expression on him, but his look was determined. Bolin's look was slightly panicky, and he practically bounced from toe to toe as he looked around himself.

Tenzin spotted the shards of broken glass, that had fallen in front of the side wall. He looked up, and saw a window that was broken from the inside. "Boto. Did you see which window Tai went out of?" The young man glanced at him, and followed his gaze, comprehension dawning.

"During the battle, Rorik and his red monsoons created a fog, we could hardly see three feet in front of us the whole time. But it started to dissipate when Tai saw that guy with the two swords head through the window. It was that one for sure." He pointed to the one that was broken from the inside.

Tenzin nodded and clapped his shoulder. "Thank you, young man. I should be able to detect where he ran off to." he focused on the open window, and swept his arm forwards, creating a stream of brightly colored air that wound its way through the window and to the outside. "Stay put, everyone. I'll be back soon."

"But Tenzin-" Mako and Bolin both started, clearly not okay with staying put. Boto stared up at the constantly-battered windowsill, through which the rain fell freely.

But he shook his head. "I know you all care about her, but you will only slow me down. I need to find them before the trail runs cold."

All three of them fell silent, and nodded. Mako had a angry look in his eyes, while Bolin's held worry.

He ran forwards, leaping towards the window and running through it, disappearing into the elements outside.

* * *

_Ling-Shan District, Republic City._

The rain continued to bucket down, a succession of raindrops continually drumming against the heavy fabric of his hood. It didn't bother him, he never had much time for other concerns apart from what his master desired. As far as he was concerned, anyone he knew back before the fire was _dead _to him. The thought of the all-consuming fire kept him rooted to the spot standing on the roofs edge, and for a single, terrible lifetime he was amongst the flames again, surrounded by their burning licks, hounded by the hellish squealing, and blinded by the searing glow of cindered wood.

He shook those thoughts away, and he narrowed his eyes, focusing on the weakling and his protector, no doubt heavily injured from that little fall. He would check if they survived in a moment, for even though he was certain of his own abilities and skills, his little brother always had a certain... unpredictability to him. His long dead mother saw had encouraged it, to the point where she barely had time for _him_.

A single thought ran through him, and he nodded in time with it's passing. Reminiscing is pointless. He took a few careful steps forwards, his toes now hanging over nothing as he bent forwards a little, peering into the dark depths of the cramped alley below. He was rewarded with two broken bodies, although one of them was still moving, he narrowed his eyes again as he spared a thought of doubt.

The Avatar was very durable.

Without wasting a second he lowered himself over the edge, making use of the heavy leather of his gloves to get a good grip on the slick concrete. He shifted his wrist as the edge of the buildings rain gutter bit into it, he ignored the slight discomfort and pressed down and kept his fingers clenched. He spotted the top level of the fire escape, sitting just below his dangling feet.

A grunt was forced out of him as he landed, his boots absorbing any of the impact associated with dropping six meters. The metal frame of the entire structure rattled and wobble precariously for a few seconds, but he didn't stop as he leant over the railing, seeing that the avatar had somehow managed to stay conscious, even with the little scratch he gave her.

Her face was incredibly pale, and even from there he could see that her entire body was shaking uncontrollably as she clamped a hand over her shoulder. Her pained grunts and gasps meant nothing to his ears as he took his time going down the fire escape, being careful about it in case the flimsy metal decided to break on him. Amon always advised patience and caution.

The fire escape rattled a little louder than usual as he reached the second level closest to the ground, and the girl looked up in alarm, fear taking over her pain-stricken features as he heard her breathing get louder and quicker. She was afraid of him. Good, that would benefit.

He tilted his head when he saw that she had picked up a bit of speed, and was getting worryingly close to the rain-swept street nearby, he carefully gripped the railing and swung himself over, dropping to the floor of the alley a few meters below with barely a grunt of effort. He strode forwards, his eyes single-mindedly focused on the slowly moving water tribe girl, her desperate gasps and breaths echoing down the alleys walls, he stopped as she slipped and stumbled on a deepening puddle of water collecting near underneath a dripping pipe, pausing for a moment as a single choked cry came from her as she twisted and slammed into the wall nearby, her cry was sharp and pain-filled, and was enough to reach into the boy laying near Tarrin's feet, and pull him back from unconsciousness for a few fleeting moments.

What resembled breaths rather than words came out of him, and his fingers scrabbled as he fixed his gaze on the weapon lying in the wet nearby. Tarrin looked down at the pathetic sight, and without any thought of mercy or hesitation, unleashed a swift kick into his stomach. The boy doubled up with a painful scream, and was unconscious once more.

Nodding once, he stepped over his little brother, eyes straight ahead as he picked up the pace a bit, her pained sobs and little gasps of breath reached his ears again, louder as he came to a stop near her. She had curled up into a ball, and was staring at the wall and dumpster, shaking noticeably as the red patch on her shoulder continued to grow and gush.

His hand shot down, wrapping around her neck and bringing the choking girl up to his eye-level. He tilted his head, seeing how all the fight had been drained out of her so quickly by one little 'toy'. He slammed her into the wall, and kept her there as he reached hand to one of his sabres.

Drawing it out with one hand was simple for him, yet it still took a long time as he wrestled it away from the straps keeping it to his back. The slow grind of the blade on the leather had a effect on the girl, whose eyes widened even further as she struggled weakly. The blade held out to his side, his thumb found a button on the side of the handle. He kept the weapon steady as the sides of the blade began to fold inwards in sections, rolling around a central rod and sliding into the depths of the contraption. The shortened blade was now as long as his forearm, and it would serve nicely in the tight quarters, allowing him to swing with _impunity_. The inventor had outdone himself this time.

"You and him are a plague on the world. Neither of you will hurt anyone anymore." he stated, no inflection or tone in his voice whatsoever. The girl didn't, couldn't, respond as her struggling began to die down, and her breaths became shallower and less there. He angled the blade tip towards her belly and swung his arm back, without a moments thought he swung it forwards, aiming for a point between her ribs that allowed easy access to the heart-

Roaring wind drowned out the rain and the storm above, and he turned, seeing a ball of rapidly spinning air bearing towards him. Reflexively his eyes widened for an instant, and the shock dissolved his grip on the sabre, sending it clattering to the wet concrete as he beheld the face of a wrathful airbender behind the turbulent sphere. But his training quickly took over, and his expression was calm as he sidestepped around the little ball of air and it's source, twisting back before swinging his leg into the boy's stomach.

His little brother's eyes boggled, and a line of blood forced itself from his lips as the sphere dissolved and he twisted to the ground, shaking and wracked with pain. Tarrin took a step forward, picking up his sabre and depressing the button on the handle, making the blade spring back to it's full length as he held it above the boy, and drove the tip downwards.

Heat tickled his ears as it forced its way into the hood, and something inside him screamed in fear as a wall of fire sprang up, completely blocking out his view of the rainy street, instinct took over, and he broke into a run into the depths of the alley, only to be stopped by another wall of fire springing up in front of him. He backed away a few steps, feeling a strange feeling he had never thought he would feel again. Fear.

A flame-wreathed hand broke out of the wall behind him, and he beheld two golden eyes like that of a spirits, boring into his very soul with the intensity of a inferno. They were joined by a shock of silver hair, and the human features of an old man in simple red robes skidded to a halt in front of the two near-dead teens, shielding them as he flung both hands forwards in clenched fists. A blast of intense golden fire erupted towards the stunned young man, and caught him on the full in the chest. He was sent rocketing backwards, feeling his entire body was set aflame as he passed through the flame wall and hit the slick concrete hard, sliding along it's length towards the other side of the alley.

The old man stood there for a few seconds, his intensely colored eyes focused on the depths of the alley as he lowered the walls of fire, the steam hugged the ground at his feet as he nodded, confirming that their attacker had run off.

He glanced down at his feet, and saw that the boy had placed himself in front of the girl during the display, no doubt trying to shield her from the flames. The old man suppressed a chuckle as he bent down to pick the two of them up, grunting a little as his back protested extremely loudly and graphically, in the language of creaking bones and muscle aches.

He ignored that. The Avatar was worth a sore back.

* * *

Tai slowly opened his eyes, and as he regained consciousness the intense pain suddenly rushed back, flooding his head and making him groan. It went away in a instant, replaced by a dull throb that was felt throughout his body. He vaguely noticed that the wet sky was brown, and was segmented.

Wait. No.

That was wood.

He was staring at a wooden ceiling, and he wondered where he was. He shuffled experimentally, noting that the bed he lay on was coarse and tough, and wasn't a bed at all, rather it was a couch instead. He nearly fell off it, and stopped moving. Cautiously, he lifted his head, and saw a warmly lit living room, it was small, and in the wall in front of him was a wooden door leading to the outside. He heard slightly muffled noise of the raging wind and rain outside. He craned his head and saw a old man looking at him, with equal parts amusement and concern. He tried not to look at the dull red scar that covered the entire left side of his face, feeling that it would shame his host.

"Don't worry, it's just an old scar."

He nodded cautiously, noticing how it seemed to almost form a flame like shape with the old man's left eye forming the core. He gasped as he moved his left arm, and looked down, seeing that it was held in a sling, and resting on his chest. He was still wearing his coat, but his grey shirt was missing, and all that covered his chest was a white bandage wound around his stomach. He touched it gingerly, wincing a little as pain flared up instantly. His sword was in its scabbard, and was resting against the arm of his makeshift bed.

"Thank you. Uh." he was at a disadvantage, not knowing who the old man was. "Sir." he quickly finished.

"No need, you were in pretty bad shape." he chuckled pleasantly, and Tai found himself wearing a weary smile.

He suddenly remembered who fell with him. "Where's Korra!"

The old man watched the boy look around the room in alarm, before leaning forward and point upwards with a single finger. "It's okay. She's fine. Luckily your bandaging managed to stop the bleeding, some shoddy work though."

He tipped his head back, resting it on the arm of the couch, sighing with relief, than guilt. "It's all my fault."

"There's no point to that. What has happened, has happened." The old man smiled, a memory of someone important to him saying almost those exact words. The memory also brought back a sad, and old, feeling.

"Yeah. My name is Tai."

"Zuko." The old man barely contained a chuckle as the boy's eyes widened in recognition of the famous name.

"Zuk-" realization dawned in his mind. As best he could, he inclined his head downwards. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause you any-"

"Trouble? Saving you and the Avatar was my idea, young man."

"Right. Sorry." The boy mumbled, keeping his eyes glued to the floor.

"Don't be. When I was your age, I was just as stupid."

He laughed weakly. "Heh, uh, thank you. I think."

"So what happened, and please, the truth." Zuko pressed gently, with a hint of firmness. The boy loosed a shuddering sigh as he lifted himself into a upright position, keeping a hand to his stomach and his arm pressed close.

Tai swallowed painfully. "We were at a warehouse, breaking up a triad meet up. The equalists showed and I chased after one of them, alone. She followed me, and..." He remembered. She _saved him_. And then he remembered something else. _He saved them_.

Zuko nodded. "I admit, even I wasn't that stupid."

"This how you treat every patient?" the boy rubbed the back of his neck as Zuko shook his head.

"Just the idiots." He went to get up, but not before the boy managed to summon the energy to raise his voice.

"Sir- wait."

Zuko turned around with a questioning glance. "Yes, young man?"

"We were with our squad at the warehouse. They may still be there."

He nodded. "I'll head over there soon."

Suddenly Tai's vision dimmed, and exhaustion rushed into his body.

Zuko's voice was a mere whisper now as he drifted back into sleep. "I'll check on Korra then I'll-"

Tenzin frowned as he squatted, rubbing his beard in worry as he stared at a puddle of water, it's surface constantly being disturbed by the heavy raindrops that still blanketed the city. He felt a growing apprehension in his stomach as he noticed the dirty red cloud that slowly expanded through the puddle. He didn't need to confirm it twice, he was looking at blood.

He looked up, watching the young waterbender's eyes fill with worry similar to his, as he stripped a glove off of one hand, and dipped a finger into the turgid puddle. The airbender's eyebrow arched for a instant as he watched his face screw up in concentration for a brief second. The puddle below shook a little, and Tenzin was sure the cloud of blood had moved as well.

But there was time for a nagging feeling later on as Boto looked at him. "Korra's badly hurt." his voice was low enough so that only Tenzin could hear him, and so that he wouldn't alarm the brothers standing nearby.

Tenzin nodded. "Did she leave a-" he practically had to force the next word out. "Trail?"

Boto shook his head slowly, and pointed towards the edge of the roof a few metres away. "It only goes that far, my guess is they both fell into the alley below." The young man stood up and left to examine where he had pointed at as Mako and Bolin moved towards him.

"Anything?" The firebender's tone was harsh and quick, which was to be expected considering the current situation. Tenzin straightened and brushed himself off, fixing on the dangerous gleam in the boy's eye. He was worried indeed.

He thought about telling him for a moment, before instead settling for a nod and beckoning for the two of them to follow him. He strode over to the edge of the roof standing next to Boto and peering into the alleyway below. "They may have escaped through this alley, boys."

"Then she's okay then?" The firebender's younger brother asked cautiously, poking the tips of his index fingers together in a obvious display of nervousness. Tenzin was speechless for a moment, searching for the right words to say, before he once again settled for a curt nod. That seemed to do the trick as Bolin's face lit up briefly, in stark contrast to Mako's cold gaze as he stared wordlessly at the alley below.

"Tenzin. Look." He glanced at Boto, who pointed towards the threshold between the alley and street, where someone in a vaguely red-colored coat walked towards the bottom of their building, his face obscured by a heavy hood. The unknown man seemed to have recognized him however, when he waved. It was then that Tenzin saw those unmistakable yellow eyes, framed by weathered features.

"Everyone, off the roof, I believe we may have found them." Mako gave him a questioning look as his little brother's face lit up again, while Boto merely nodded, making a move for the fire escape nearby. Tenzin stopped him with a firm grip on the shoulder, spinning his other hand to get a gust going. Without warning, he stepped off of the roof's edge, and floated through the wet weather until his feet touched lightly on the ground in front of the hooded figure.

He waited a few seconds for the unmistakable sound of grinding earth, signalling that Bolin and Mako had followed them down. Tenzin stepped forward, stopping in front of the hooded figure, the top of whose head only reached to Tenzin's nose. He placed the palms of his hands together, and bowed deeply and respectfully, straightening as a old man chuckle came from the depths of the hood. "It's good to see you, Zuko."

Behind his shoulder, Mako and Bolin exchanged disbelieving glances, with Bolin bowing nervously as his brother folded his arms together in a stand-offish way. The old man reached up to hem of his hood and threw the fabric back, revealing a pale-skinned and weathered face, gaunt in the cheeks but still retained some of his younger handsomeness. The flameshaped scar over his left eye stood out strongly, serving to give him a very ferocious appearance that belied the kind-hearted man underneath.

For his part, Zuko stepped forward and wrapped Tenzin in a tender embrace, breaking it off after a few seconds as he studied Tenzin's companions. "Time is of the essence, so I believe we can be introduced later on. Also the fact that we're in Agni Kai territory isn't helping things. Follow me."

"Tai!"

he woke with a start, than hissed as his stomach protested, he was still on the couch, and a bald man was leaning over him. "Master?" he said weakly.

He looked past him, and saw Boto, Bolin, and - inwardly he groaned - Mako, not the firebender he wanted to see. "Where's Zuko?"

"Upstairs with Korra." Tenzin paused, obviously conflicting with something. "What were you thinking!"

Tai lowered his gaze, hearing the disappointment and concern in someone like Tenzin was a lot to take in. "I don't know." he simply said.

He fell silent, and avoided everyone's looks going his way. Confusion and concern from Bolin and Boto, and outright hostility and anger from Mako. Tenzin moved back slightly as Tai sat up slowly, burying his face in his palms. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry!" Mako shouted, he rushed forward and picked him up by his coat collar, pushing him up against the wall. "Give me one reason, why I shouldn't kill you!" his yellow eyes were burning with rage as they bore directly into Tai. "Look at me! And tell me!" he hissed.

"I don't have one." he murmured.

Bolin put his hand on Mako's shoulder cautiously. "Bro." he lost some of the fire in his eyes as he glanced at his younger brother, he swallowed his pride and nodded, scowling as he released Tai. The boy merely stood there, his head hung low.

"Mako!" Tenzin warned. He turned to Tai. "Was Amon there?" he asked.

He shook his head. "My brother was." he laughed bitterly as the room fell silent, and his eyes grew wet. "My own brother. Tried to _kill_ me."

Everyone was silent. Bolin was staring at him incredulously, Mako watched the ceiling intently, rubbing his chin. And Boto looked away.

Tenzin placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Tai listen-"

Zuko came down the stairs interrupting him. He stepped back and everyone focused on the old man. "She's awake." he stated.

Mako and Bolin immediately moved towards the stairs when he held up a hand to stop them. "She asked to see Tai.", everyone looked at him as he blinked twice. Groaning a bit as he got up from the roughly made couch, he held a hand to his stomach, and limped towards the stairs, nodding at Zuko.

He went up slowly, holding onto the rail with his right hand, taking each step carefully. He was dreading each one that led to that door. He reached it, and hung his head, hesitating for a eternal moment. Finally he summoned the courage to place his hand on the door knob, and he opened it, the room was small, but very warm and comfortable to stand in. It held a single bed, pushed up against the windowsill standing opposite from the doorway he stood in.

Currently the bedside table was laden with bandages and all kinds of medicines, all used for the benefit of the girl sitting up in the bed, looking straight at him. He froze, unsure of what to do or say, especially when he noticed her shirt lying folded on a nearby shelf, the girl herself only half-dressed with her chest kept hidden by pure white wraps. He nearly reddened as his eyes traced the beginning curve of her hips just before they slipped underneath her pants-

"Hey." She said, adding a weary smile after. He felt terrible, especially when he saw the fresh bandages covering her shoulder, and how she held it. She shifted, and he saw her grit her teeth a bit as the pain obviously got to her. "You okay?" She asked.

"You were stabbed by him." he said without thinking, immediately searching for a way to apologize for his blundering.

She nodded, stopping his panic. "Yeah."

"I'm an idiot." he sighed, dropping onto a wooden chair next to the bed and burying his face in his hands. He didn't want to look her in the eyes. What happened on the rooftop came flooding back to him, filling up his head with nothing but those horrible images. Tarrin. Failure. Korra.

Finally, he looked at her, with a sunken look. "You saved me. Why?"

She shrugged, even though it obviously pained her. "Avatar, remember?"

He laughed. "Why though? I was an idiot, and should have paid for it."

"You're my friend." she stated.

"I-" he looked down at the floor. "Thank you."

"You want to tell me who Tarrin is?" she asked.

He looked at her for a moment, gauging whether he could trust her with it. Without hesitation he came to a decision. Absolutely.

"My big brother. We were each other's best friend, being part of a bender family in a non-bender town does that to you. He couldn't bend, not that it mattered though." Korra's eyes held a infinite amount of questions in them, but he continued on. "The village was called Junoa, and it sat at the base of the Kamang mountain range up north. Kind of cold, but it was okay."

"Who were your parents?" He looked at her, seeing the suffering behind her eyes as she worked to keep upright and awake.

"Mom was a airbender, studied under both Telei _and_ Tenzin." his expression darkened. "You'll have to ask Tenzin about him." he kept going. "Dad was United Forces, retired just before Tarrin was born."

Korra looked at him, seeing the downcast light in his eyes come up again. She wondered if she should tell him about what Tenzin said to her. "When you first came to Air Temple Island, Tenzin told me that he knew your parents."

"Huh." The boy arched his eyebrow in response, and for a brief moment Korra felt like he should have been looking at her with mistrust instead of curiosity. "They never told me they knew him." His eyes flitted away from hers, once again narrowing. "Although she did say something about visiting him on a business trip to Republic City... that was the last time I saw her." And what happened a couple days after... The fire. His screams. His desperation to find his brother and to get out of there. His horror.

He sighed, and looked at her. "I had no idea my brother was alive until now."

She treaded carefully, painfully aware of his quiet tones. "When I was fighting him... he said something about a fire." she couldn't help making the connection, especially when recalling the furious inferno that consumed the warehouse with him at the center of it.

For his part Tai was elsewhere. _Had his thoughts been twisted that much? What else had the bastard done to him?_ "I..." he faltered, already feeling himself shrink away from he prospect of even saying anything out loud. He'd have to acknowledge it if he did. But looking at her blue eyes and the bandages covering her shoulder, he knew he owed her. "There was a fire. Amon started it. Not me." He leveled a look at her. "Please, don't ask me anything beyond that."

Korra nodded as he closed his eyes and sighed, latching onto the relief that he was alive now rather than the dark thoughts of the past that kept coming back. "So that's my family, how about yours?" he said, not realising he was murmuring a little as he still focused on getting rid of the dark thoughts.

She was more than happy to oblige. The girl grunted a little as she shifted back, resting her bare back against the headboard "Back home in the South Pole. I lived in a compound for most of my childhood. Didn't see them much. Or, anyone else apart from teachers." she couldn't help the bitter tone, as flashes of sitting on that big ice wall, watching a group of kids go penguin sledding in the snow outside. Spirits, she wanted to be part of that.

"Must have been lonely."

She shook her head, making sure not to dwell on the distant past. "Actually I didn't really notice most of the time, I was focused on learning the bending arts, trying to be the Avatar."

"Except for that time when you met Boto?"

She chuckled. "Yeah, got me there. He made it bearable."

"So you still _want _him?" he teased.

"Uh no! We're best friends, that's all."

"Uh huh."

Korra quickly changed the subject, her eyes flashing evilly. "What about you and Sensha, huh? I know what you were looking at on the airship. _Not_ the scenery I can tell you that much."

Tai shrugged. "She has beautiful eyes." He smiled victoriously at her as the Avatar stared at him blankly.

Korra scowled as he laughed. "Would it help if I said you do as well?" he said earnestly.

"Next time we spar, I'll show my _thanks_." she threatened him with bodily harm all the time, so he dismissed it. "You really think so?" she asked cautiously, suddenly very focused on wanting to know what he thought of her.

"Yeah. I do." he really hoped she was more focused on listening than she was on seeing.

Korra was silent, and he was suddenly getting the impression he was needed downstairs. "Uh, so, get better, and thank you for saving my sorry ass." He reddened, and left the room quickly, leaving the confused girl behind to recuperate.

He sighed. Geez, you were subtle weren't ya?

Shut up brain.

* * *

潮


	8. The Leaf, and The Calm

_Air Temple Island._

"Are you concentrating Tai?" They sat next to each other in a traditional air nomad stance, used for meditation and designed to foster peace of mind. The spray from the waters below mingled with the air at their level, providing a cool relieving sensation that calmed one's thoughts. For Tai, that was particularly needed.

He opened one eye, glancing at his master. "Yes."

"You have whipped the leaves behind us into the air."

Tai glanced behind him, noticing how the leaves from the trees on the hill had taken flight and were dancing on the wind. He actually thought it looked kind of cool. He arched an eyebrow at his master, then sighed as he concentrated, willing the air carrying the leaves to let them gracefully float to the ground, Tenzin nodded and closed his eyes once more.

"I don't know why you requested we meditate here." he shifted as his back creaked, preferring the hard floor of the pavillion to the grass.

"Pavilions enclosed, it's not very suitable for meditation. Uh, in my honest opinion." Tai found that this spot on the cliffs and the view it provided calmed him down, and did a lot to keep dark thoughts away. He suspected that Tenzin knew his reasoning.

"Hmm. I prefer the pavilion."

Tai rolled his eyes, behind his closed eyelids so that Tenzin wouldn't see. He breathed in deeply, and resumed focus. After a few minutes of thought-walking and thinking about the previous days, he realized something deep, something profound about the world he lived in.

No matter what, he just could not meditate today.

He sighed. And then gasped, as one of his ribs started to flare up again. He was still sore from what happened two days ago.

"How are your wounds?"

"Better, Korra's healing is helping a lot. And Zuko is really handy with his bandages."

"Considering the organization he is trying to bring down, I can see why." Tenzin opened one eye as his mouth lifted in a smirk. "You get healed by her_ quite_ a bit."

"Have you seen what I do Master?" The boy's rebuttal presented.

"Yes. Stop it."

"I'll try."

Tenzin sighed. "I can't get focused."

"You too? Not to do with Korra's friends is it?" Tai said with total and complete innocence, not trying to egg him on at all. He felt daggers being glared at him.

The intensity of his dark gaze lowered after a few seconds as Tenzin nodded. "I'm fine with them staying on the island, they've all been a great help."

"The Equalists?" Tai tried again, shifting a little as a breeze of wind rustled his hair around.

"Tarrlok." Tenzin said with a heavy sigh, his features already darkening at the thought of that lunatic.

Tai looked down at the ground between his feet, a bit ashamed about how easily he had accepted that offer. "I hate him."

"You jumped at the chance to be on his task force." Tenzin noted, watching a pair of Bison glide ponderously above the open sea beyond the cliffs.

"That was a mistake, as long I stick with Boto and Sensha, I should be fine." He said quickly, studiously keeping his eyes from looking back up, making sure they were still fixed on examining the fresh soil under the blades of grass.

He thought about something Korra had told him earlier in the day, something that had her a little worried. "I haven't seen Korra make any progress on her airbending."

"Yes. As soon as we returned from Police Headquarters she ran off." His master responded calmly, absent-mindedly picking a blade of grass from the ground and holding it up in the air.

"You aren't concerned?" Tai eyed him, genuinely confused as he turned towards Tenzin.

"Of course I'm concerned. But all I could say to her was that she needs to find the meaning of her visions."

"Oh."

"Speaking of which, how have yours been?" Tenzin looked at him with a bit of concern.

"Nothing so bad as the first time. I haven't really had the chance to fully mediate until now." On a whim he closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the cool air carried by the wind, and placed his palms against one another as he concentrated on his focus. He let off an explosive sigh. "And it isn't working."

"Never mind." Tenzin stood up and brushed himself off. "We'll end the lesson here."

Tai nodded, standing up next to him as he stretched to shake off the afternoon sluggishness. "So what next?"

"I think some sparring will do." he grinned evilly, and aimed his palm at Tai's chest, he heard the boy sigh. The blast of air sent him rolling down the path. He pushed himself into the air with a pulse, and he landed on his feet, and was running down the hill towards the waiting stalks of the bamboo forest. He ran as fast as he could, not caring for the pain beginning to bloom near his stomach, he hugged the edge of the bamboo forest. As he saw Tenzin fly effortlessly towards him, he quickly dived into the bamboo branches.

A tiny branch with a single leaf whacked him across the cheek, making him sputter as he got the taste of it. He threw his hand out, creating a slicing crescent of air that bisected the swathe of stalks in front of him, giving him a wider space to move in. He glanced behind him, and saw Tenzin dive into the forest behind him, using circular movements and subtle wind manipulation to get past the bamboo.

He swept a arc of fire backwards, trying to deter the air bender from a frontal attack. He was rewarded when Tenzin swerved to the side, disappearing behind a curtain of stalks. The boy didn't waste any time as he hopped onto the bisected stalk in front of him, dancing across them to get to the other side. He dove into the thick once more, and after a minute or so, broke out of the sturdy foliage, finding himself in the circular training area. He quickly ran towards the raised dais, only for the gates to spin furiously in front of him.

A bald head revealed itself, as Tenzin dove towards him using a stream of air. He pushed at the ground nearby, and the wind carried him to the left, barely dodging the quick attack. Tenzin stopped instantly, and used a spout of air to rise up above the boy. Tai acted quickly, he ran towards the spout, dragging his arms behind himself. As Tenzin spun his arms above himself to create a funnel of wind, Tai sprang his move and threw his arms forwards, both of them touching the other, and a massive stream of wind drilled through the spout, it spun in the opposite direction, causing the spinning mass of air to lose cohesion.

It broke up, throwing Tenzin towards the ground at bone-breaking speed. Showing why he was a master he waited just before impact and threw his hand out, creating a cushion of air. He practically bounced off of it, landing with knees slightly bent as he dusted himself off.

"Hmm." he said, impressed.

Tai was out of breath and feeling very sore. He swallowed painfully as he stood up straight, giving Tenzin a weary smile, who returned it with a smirk. "Since you are about to collapse, we'll leave it there for today."

Taking that as a challenge, he immediately stood straighter, squaring his shoulders up. Tenzin walked towards him, amusement on his face. "Don't strain yourself."

The boy nodded wearily, almost stumbling as he did so. Tenzin put a supporting hand on his shoulder and they walked out of the training circle, heading down the stone steps towards the central grounds of the island. Once they were in front of the massive steps leading up to it, Tenzin nodded at Tai. "Tomorrow. 8:00 am."

"Always something to learn isn't there?" Tai tried to grumble, getting a chuckle from his master.

"Take it easy Tai, wouldn't want to carry you back in a stretcher."

"Ha."

He bid Tenzin goodbye, and kept going on the path, leaving Tenzin to disappear into the main building. The wind picked up, ruffling his hair as he strolled down the path. Well it was close to a stroll, his ankle was still sore from falling off the apartment building, it would have been even worse off if Korra hadn't healed it for him. Next he saw her, he would definitely thank her.

Lemurs chirped and chittered in the fruit trees nearby, a few of them darting into view every so often to scratch at the stem of one of the cream colored orbs. He snuck one once, and promptly fell in love with it. He was always tempted to pick one from that tree, but kept himself from doing it whenever he could.

He stopped for a moment, now hopeless trapped on the thought of the delicious fruit. He shrugged and walked towards the tree, standing underneath it's boughs as he looked for a way up to the branch above him. He noticed a few pairs of green eyes were narrowed as they watched him, and he didn't care. They're just Lemurs.

He saw a small knurl that jutted out from the thick trunk, he reached for it and pulled himself up into the branches of the tree. The rough bark came away at a few points, peeling off, and flaking away under his hands. A few splinters found their way into his skin, but he didn't care, only having eyes for the two orbs of pure white goodness hanging five meters away from him.

He wrapped his right hand around the branch holding them, immediately causing a rush of chittering green eyes to pounce onto him. They scratched and pulled at his hair, and he yelped in surprise. A few of the Lemurs even dropped down onto his shoulder, their long ears trailing behind them as they launched a blitzkrieg on the hand that held on to the tree limb. With surprising strength, they began to pry his fingers from their positions, causing his eyes to water as they started biting and scratching to get the point across.

Suddenly a white phantom descended from the upper boughs, green eyes blazing furiously as it took out the other Lemurs one by one. Some got the message and disappeared into the leaves, vowing revenge in their language. The last one was too late, and the white phantom picked it up and held it high, before throwing it out of the tree's depths. It screeched and unfolded it's wings, floating safely to the ground, shaking it's fist as it did so.

The phantom turned around, looking at him with bright green eyes. It sniffed him and nudged his nose, further confusing Tai. Suddenly it dawned on him.

"Little guy!" he exclaimed. With his free hand, he scratched the Lemur under the chin in thanks. He pulled away and grabbed the two fruits, and dropped to the ground below. The little creature followed him down, and landed on his shoulder, looking at him as he pointed towards one of the delicious orbs. He chuckled and broke off a piece, revealing the golden innards within. The creature accepted it and wolfed it down in one mouthful, chittering with satisfaction. It stayed on his shoulder, as he walked away from the tree, towards the cliffs overlooking the dock.

He walked towards the very beautifully carved and painted rail, leaning on it as he chewed on the ball of heavenly delight. As he savored the sweet and juicy fruit, he thought about a name for it.

"I think... Popa, would be a good name." he wondered out aloud, he glanced at the Lemur curled up on his shoulder. "Good name, little guy?" he asked. To his surprise the creature nodded vigorously, chattering in response. He couldn't possibly know what he was talking about, so he sighed contentedly, and returned to watching the bay sparkle brilliantly, as the afternoon sun lowered a fraction towards the horizon, subtly changing the amount of light it threw on the city and bay below it.

Time passed by, and he wasn't sure how long he'd been there for, he guessed around two hours or so. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realized he missed dinner, and shrugged in response. His brain disapproved and kept giving him images of soup and bread. Those were dispelled when he heard a choking sob carry across from behind a rocky face nearby. He dropped another piece of the fruit to his little friend and walked over curiously, already harboring an idea about who was there.

He poked his head around the wall of stone and his face fell. Korra had her knees drawn up against her chest, and her face was hidden from view. Pabu poked his head up from his place on her shoulder, and tilted his head at Tai as he approached. He hopped down to greet him, and quickly approached something approaching a weak scowl when he saw the Lemur perched on his shoulder.

The Ferret screeched and stood his fur on end, doing everything a Ferret could do to appear larger to a foe, were that possible. The Lemur leapt down with a screech, and sat in front of Pabu. He eyed him for a moment before slapping him with a tiny paw. The furry creature shook his head and than tilted it quizzically, before sniffing the Lemur. He screeched approvingly and they both ran into the bushes, passing under the boy currently holding a arched eyebrow. He glanced at Korra and walked up to her, watching the waters quietly, waiting until she was ready.

Finally the sniffs stopped, and she glanced up at him. "You must think I'm a failure."

He sat down next to her, offering her one of the white fruit. Slowly, she accepted it, holding it loosely in her hands as she sighed despondently. "Why would I be thinking that?" he said, genuinely confused. He smiled reassuringly at her, his face falling when he saw her focusing on the ground instead.

"I can't produce so much as a wisp of air." she muttered, half-heartedly opening her hand and clenching slightly, as if the small movement would affect the air around it.

"What happened?" he asked. Tenzin said that Korra went with him to the station, but beyond that he had no clue what was going on.

"Oh nothing. Just realizing that I'm a _half-baked_ _Avatar_." She looked at the ground between her legs and sniffed, sighing as she focused on the waves crashing below.

"Who said that?" his expression darkened as he watched her shoulders sag, making a small part of him angry at whoever was responsible.

"Tarrlok." Her voice was small, and he noticed her lip tremble slightly as she said that weasel-snake's name.

He couldn't believe his ears, or believe the fact that she was like this because of _him_. "Are you serious?"

She blinked away a few tears, wiping them away as she glanced at him. "Wha-what?"

"You really think that weasel-snake has any idea of who you are?"

"He's right isn't he? I can't do air bending at all, and I can't even get the spiritual parts of being the Avatar right." she bowed her head, the tears starting to flow again. "I'm just a failure."

"Stop it." He turned to her, a determined look in his eyes. "You're brave, and you're smart." He noticed the tears had stopped flowing, but he continued on anyway, ignoring the growing urge to shut his mouth. "You're strong, you never back down." suddenly he reddened. "And you save idiots like me because you _can_." She was looking straight at him now, her attention completely on him. He didn't want to disappoint. "So don't ever, for one second, doubt yourself. You are the Avatar, and you'll get there."

She chuckled, sniffing as she did so. "You're great with pep talks you know that?" He simply smiled in return, glad that she was getting out of the slump. He was disappointed when she fell silent though, and her sides were still heaving with every sob.

"Want to try the popa?" he asked suddenly.

She blinked in confusion, than looked down at the white fruit perched on her palm, as if realizing she was holding it. "Popa?"

"They're the fruit I found on the tree near the stairs, they taste _awesome_." his eyes twinkling at the mere thought of them.

"Um. Alright." she nodded weakly, before taking a small bite out of it. She nodded appreciatively, and seemed to calm down a bit. "You know, they are pretty good." she offered him a weak smile.

"Feeling better?" he ventured.

"Actually, yeah."

"Food therapy. Works every time." He fell silent for a moment, thinking of something. "You know, offer is still up."

"Offer?"

"Yeah. Remember? I can help you brush up on airbending techniques when Tenzin isn't training us." He didn't voice the fact that she would most likely floor him instantly with her airbending, not wanting to get her head any more bigger than it was.

"Oh yeah." She tilted her head, glad to focus on something other than criticism. "Didn't I offer fire bending help as well?"

"Definitely. I'm not letting you off."

"Sure. Thanks Tai." before he could react, she leant over and gave him a peck on the cheek. He sputtered and blushed, not expecting that. He quickly glanced at her, but she was looking out at the sea again. "Can I be alone now?" she said in a small voice.

"Uh-yeah." he nodded and quickly stood up, walking back around the rock face as fast as he could. He thought he heard a giggle following him, than a sigh. He resisted the sudden urge to look behind him, as he walked off. Behind him, the Lemur poked his head out of the bush, waving goodbye to him.

He headed back to the path, and decided to follow a chorus of grunts and pained noises floating to him from the side of the main structure. Bolin was hanging off the side of the roof, held up by a tangle of ropes, with a hammer perched painfully on his head. He saw Tai walking towards them with a curious expression, and tried to wave, only serving to entangle him even more. Mako merely plucked another blue plate from the stack next to him, and placed it on a spot on the roof, before hammering a nail through it, finishing with a stream of fire to melt the edges down, strengthening the plate. He barely threw a glance at the approaching boy, focused on his work.

"Hey Tai." Bolin said weakly.

Tai stopped and crossed his arms, arching a eyebrow at his predicament. "How?"

"Oh I was actually aiming for this to happen, it's a good position for my back." He saw Tai roll his eyes, and suddenly blast a gust of wind at him, making the rope swing back and forth. Bolin narrowed his eyes. "Why did you _do that_?"

Tai shrugged and smirked. He scowled as he flailed his arms, trying and failing to find the loop that would get him free from the entangled rope. But he would then plummet to the ground below. He scratched that thought, and awkwardly placed a hand under his chin as he watched the airbender below. "Sooooo."

"Yes?"

"What were you doing?" Bolin asked.

"Fighting with Lemurs."

Bolin sighed as that smirk came back. "Air benders."

"Actually, uh, I was talking. With Korra." For a moment he was getting a peck on the cheek again, and he forgot that both brothers were looking at him with no small amount of suspicion. He noticed Mako glancing down at him, while Bolin seemed to be bursting with curiosity.

Despite being tangled in the mess of ropes, he rolled his hand. "Elaborate?"

He sighed. "Something's up with her. I was trying to cheer her up, and well, I _think _it worked." The boy wasn't sure if getting something like a peck on the cheek meant some kind of achievement. Or at least, the kind of achievement he was _looking_ for.

"Did she say what was wrong?"

"Something that weasel-snake Tarrlok said to her. Shook her pretty badly." He decided he wouldn't reveal the _other_ part of the conversation. Bolin and Mako looked at one another before nodding. Bolin grinned as he looked back at Tai. "I think it's time we reveal our idea, Mako."

"What?" Tai asked, very confused, and getting a vaguely bad feeling.

Bolin finally freed himself from the tangle, and dropped down in front of Tai, walking past him towards the pier. Mako dropped down onto the staircase, disappearing into the warren of rooms and hallways.

A few minutes later Tai was still standing there, stricken by confusion as Asami and Mako walked down the stairs a few minutes later, heading towards the pier as well.

What?

* * *

_Police Headquarters_

The commander sat at his desk, grumbling as he sorted through a massive stack of reports and missives that made the right side of his prized mahogany table groan with its weight. He sighed as he saw yet another report of non bender persecution, or a rejection of a criminal act undertaken by a bender. Even though benders were a minority in most parts of the city, they still held almost absolute power over others, just because they could control water, or shoot flames from their fingertips, or crush anyone they wanted with the ground itself.

No wonder the Equalists are seeming more and more like a good idea.

Makei knew he shouldn't be thinking like that, after all, the very same revolutionaries were creating havoc across the city, and with someone like Amon at their head, he was sure the delegates at the diplomatic summit would be a major target for them. And since Saikhan was now chief, he was going to have a tougher time trying to wrangle extra security from the conservative officer. While he was good friends with him, they both knew that Makei would have been better for the job. Which got him thinking.

What was Tarrlok trying to accomplish?

He sighed and rubbed his forehead, before grabbing another report notice, ready to write his approval when a chorus of voices outside his office alerted him. He arched a eyebrow and stood up, glad for the distraction. He opened the door, and was nearly run over by a line of fully geared metal benders heading for the freight elevator. He spotted a officer with tan colored armor, and a magnificent mustache.

"Sergeant Kralin! What's going on here?" Kranlin ran towards him, and snapped off a salute. "We're being deployed to the Dragon flats, Equalists are massing for an attack!"

"I'll get my gear and meet you down in the garage."

"Yes sir!" He snapped off another salute, and ran past the office, leaving Makei to grab his armor from a locker near his desk. With expert efficiency, he slipped it on, tightening a few straps and testing his cable launchers. Satisfied he headed into the corridor, walking briskly towards the intersection. Just he as was about to head for the freight elevator, he heard a much reviled voice call to him.

"Commander!"

He turned around begrudgingly, keeping a neutral face as he turned to see Tarrlok walking towards him, white teeth gleaming in a shark like smile.

He followed protocol, standing to attention and saluting the higher ranking bureaucrat. "Councilman Tarrlok."

"Where are you headed Commander?"

"Dragon flats, seems the equalists are massing, so my officers tell me."

Tarrlok nodded in agreement, arousing suspicion from Makei. "You aren't needed there, commander, follow me to the lobby."

"Sir?"

"Saikhan wants to discuss something with you."

He narrowed his eyes, trying to gauge Tarrlok's motivations. Abruptly the politician turned and headed down the stairway, trying a child's tactic by making him catch up. He sighed and followed him. He found Tarrlok leaning against the reception desk. Makei saw Saikhan and went to him.

"Chief, something you need to discuss?", Saikhan blinked twice, obviously confused.

"Uh no, Makei."

He ground his teeth and turned towards Tarrlok. "What's you-"

Tarrlok interrupted him, and talked to the receptionist. "Miss. Can you please turn the radio up for a moment?" The bubbly receptionist nodded, turning around to turn the dial, increasing the volume of the female reporter speaking.

_"The Dragon flats, one of our city's largest residential districts, has become the site of a massive riot as non benders take to the streets to voice their concerns about the new curfew passed into law this morning by our fair council. Authorities have taken extreme measures, and armored trucks, metal bending officers, and barricades have been deployed to the site. Wait who's that-" _Muttering and a few cheers could be heard among the crowd's angry shouting. _"It's Avatar Korra! The Avatar herself has arrived at the scene, presumably to defuse the tense standoff. This is Selisa from Sing Newspapers."_

The young woman's voice was cut off by moody blues tunes, Makei was glaring at Tarrlok now. Meanwhile the politician was shaking with barely concealed rage.

"Councilman. What's the meaning of this?"

The slimy official seemed to regain some composure. "As your officers said, Equalist elements are massing."

"Those aren't Equalists, they're just people!"

Saikhan was confused. "Sir, what are you trying to accomplish?"

Tarrlok looked at him. "I'm needed at the site, _Chief, _the city must know that it's leaders are listening."

"Deploying Metal Benders to round up a crowd of unarmed civilians. Are you mad!"

"I think I need to get down there. Chief. _Commander_." he left through the front doors, before Makei had a chance to grab the little bastard. Two police officers saw the whole thing, and walked up to Makei, saluting him and Saikhan.

"Sir. We need to be down there, to _survey_ and _report_."

Makei glanced at them, getting the message. "Request granted. Nisha, Hei? Stay sharp."

They both nodded, and walked off after Tarrlok.

The commander sighed. And Saikhan pinched his nose in frustration. "Ah crap." he said.

* * *

_Air Acolyte Dock, Republic City._

Tai stuck both hands in his pockets, leaning forwards and marvelling at the absolutely _beautiful _perfection sitting in front of him. His jaw hung in amazement as he beheld her amazing curves, the way her body seemed to be built for speed and endurance, while at the same time still accentuating those qualities that everyone needed in someone like her.

She looked like she could take it and keep on coming, as if nothing in the world could stop her. Her skin was absolutely divine to the touch, and it was almost a crime not to caress it.

"_Love _the _ride_." He breathed, kneeling down to caress the polished-to-perfection bonnet, running his hand over the absolutely smooth jet black finish.

Asami squatted next to him, chuckling the whole time. "I see you have a taste for art as well?"

"Whatever you do, please for the love of _Agni, don't hurt her. _I'm looking at _you_, Korra." Tai threw a smoldering look at her as she leant on one of the side doors, obviously not caring for the _perfection_ she was _ruining_.

She poked her tongue out at him as she rolled her eyes. "It's a _car_." she snorted derisively as a pained look settled in Tai's eyes.

Bolin glanced at her with a hurt look. "Korra. This is not _just a car_. _This is a gift from the spirits_." he said in awe, echoing the airbender's sentiments. He would protect this thing with his life if he must.

"Bro. I think, you're getting attached. It is just a car." Mako arched an eyebrow as Bolin's jaw hung open in shock at his words.

Korra patted him on the shoulder as she moved past, getting a serious look as she stood in front of Tai. "You're certain you don't want to help?"

"Oh, the temptation calls, but..." Images of the beautiful machine vanished, replaced by a grim white mask and his followers. "I can't. I have a feeling I'd never go back." As he said this, he felt a strange knot of apprehension growing in his stomach. "Be careful, okay? I have a feeling that equalists won't be the only thing out there."

As expected she arched her eyebrow, but nonetheless she nodded, smiling as she placed her hands together. "The Avatar, promises." A single pure note rang in Tai's ears as Mako beeped the horn, which sounded grating to her. She looked back at them, and back at him. She punched him in the shoulder. "Well. See ya."

He nodded as she climbed into one of the back seats, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with Bolin as Asami's hands expertly guided the car past the airbender, her eyes still vivid behind the thick green driving goggles. She saluted him, and he waved in return as the assembled team of teens drove off into the early night, leaving him standing alone in front of a empty garage.

* * *

_Air Temple Island_

"Damn it!"

Tenzin flung the doors open, prompting Tai to raise a questioning eyebrow as his master approached him. He stood next to him, leaning on the balcony rail as well. Tai was curious to see what was wrong, but thought it best not to irritate a master of air bending while three stories above the ground.

Still he decided to take the plunge. "What's wrong, Master?"

He sighed in exasperation, wiping his face with his hand. "Mako, Asami, and Bolin have been jailed."

Tai looked at him. "Wait, what?", not believing his ears as alarm settled on his face.

"Non-benders are rioting due to Tarrlok's curfew law, they went down there so Korra could defuse the situation. Than Tarrlok threw them in jail, and now in the morning I have to go to him to secure their release!"

"What did I miss?" Tai said in amazement, at a loss determining if his bad feeling was correct or not.

Tenzin turned to his student, trying to ward off the inevitable. "Oh no. Do not even _think_ about it Tai!"

"Think about what? I was just going to go talk to her." he said innocently, genuinely concerned about what Korra would be like because of this.

Tenzin gave him a withering look, and went back inside. "No boys in the women's dormitory."

"That's a rule?"

Tenzin rolled his eyes as he left Tai on the balcony, closing the sliding door behind him. He whistled for a few moments, checking if his master was still around. Satisfied he leapt off of the balcony, and was hanging from the rail with one hand. He dropped to the ground below, using a gust of wind to slow his descent. He had a vague idea of where Korra's room would be, so he headed around the western side of the building, the one facing the waterfront of the city, and Aang's statue. A ring of trees encircled the base of the small plateau the building stood on. He used them to get to his destination faster, ducking and weaving through branches, and getting there in no time at all.

He halted as the treeline ceased, in front of a wide open space, overshadowed by a a raised portion of the artificial plateau, on top of that was a large rectangular building, the women's dormitory. He stood there for a few seconds, trying to think up a way to climb the smooth rock face. As he thought out a plan, he noticed one of the windows fling open, seeing two brown arms holding onto the shutters briefly, before disappearing inside. He suddenly had it, and ran back to the training dorms.

A few minutes later he returned, floating on the eddies and wind currents of the sky. He guided the glider upwards, hugging the smooth angled face. He planted his feet on it, and used air bending to get him up the cliff. Soon enough he touched flat ground, and folded the glider up into a staff, placing it next to his sword sheath and using a bit of string to tie them together. He looked around briefly, watching for anyone looking his way.

He raised his arms skyward, summoning a cushion of air underneath him that propelled him high up, almost reaching Korra's window. He began to fall, and quickly lunged for one of the open shutters, the sturdy craftsmanship worked for him, and held his weight easily. Unfortunately his weight made it swing back and forth, noisily battering the wooden frame of the window. He winced as he waited for her to notice him, only to adopt a confused expression when nothing happened.

Curiosity took the best of him, and he hefted himself up, so that he could see into the room. No punches landed on his face, no blast of fire, not even a small sliver of earth. In fact, no one was there.

Dropping back down to the ground, he got to thinking. Tenzin said he was going to talk to Tarrlok in the morning, negotiating the brothers and Asami's release. He smacked himself, and put two and two together. Korra was heading there herself to force the weasel-snake into it.

Suddenly he had a very cold chill run up his spine, and a cloud of dread hung over him. He looked towards the sparkling city, and concern grew. He took the glider in both hands, and unfolded it with a flick. He ran towards the straight edge of the cliff, and with a kick, he was in the air, and was gliding towards the city. The island rolled beneath him, and he glanced a number of green eyes watching him from the depths of some of the trees, he kept going, and soon enough, the dark inky expanse of the bay's waters replaced the greenery. It felt like four hours had passed when he finally reached the city's waterfront, passing over the roofs of numerous warehouses, apartment complexes, and shops. He noticed a few of the roads to his left were cleaner and well maintained, so he took a gamble, reasoning the prettier roads would lead to the city hall.

He was rewarded with the maze of buildings giving way to a wide open space, holding beautifully cultivated plants and shrubberies, and very immaculately kept ponds of clear water, which sparkled with the light pollution given off from the massive ornate building that presided over the spectacular display. The massive blue dome loomed in front of him, and he rose over it, nearly touching the slippery surface before it dropped away, showing a empty highway at the back of the building. He flew over to a corner of the roof that overlooked the western edge and the highway, and folded the glider back into a staff. He dropped down to the balcony below, and manipulated the air inside one of the locked windows nearby, causing the latch to spring open, giving him access into the third floor hallway. He looked to his right, seeing the corridor turn at a ninety degree angle, he saw that the other side did exactly the same thing, which gave him a rough idea of the building's layout. Of course, he didn't actually know what rooms were where, but he did have a good guess that the meeting hall would be in the center of the building.

He nodded to himself and ran to the heavy double doors nearby, pulling them open as quietly as he could. He quickly pulled back, hiding himself behind the door as he saw a thin, man with a black cap walk around the main corridor's corner, heading straight towards him. He held his breath, not trusting his breathing to be quiet. He waited, and was beginning to feel light headed when he opened one of the single doors in front of him, disappearing inside and closing it behind him. He heaved a sigh of relief and ran through the short hallway, noticing how dark the room was becoming. He ignored it, and found a pillar to take cover behind as he approached the balcony that ran both sides of the main hall.

He saw some of it had been ripped up and broken, and he looked down to see Korra standing in the center of a massive crater of broken floor tiles, breathing hard and sporting a few scars on her cheeks and arms, as she walked menacingly towards the target of her wrath. Councilman Tarrlok. His body language screamed fear and terror as he backed away from the advancing Avatar. Both of her hands were now wreathed in fire, and she yelled as she charged towards the councilman, suddenly the flames dissipated, and she cried out as the sleazy politician threw his arms out at her.

Horrifyingly, he saw her forearms wrench back suddenly, causing her to gasp in pain. She was forced to her knees, and he saw Tarrlok stand up as he moved his arms around, almost like a puppeteer would with his marionettes. Her body painfully mirrored his arm movements, and after a few moments of unsettling terror, Tarrlok flung his arms to the left, launching Korra into air, and slamming her into a corner pillar, right in front of Tai's position. He narrowed his eyes, and prepared to drop down when suddenly his brain rebelled against him.

What are you doing! You'll be defeated just like her!

Doesn't matter! I have to do something!

Not now, wait and observe, his brain cautioned.

No!

But try as he might he couldn't will himself to move, realizing just how terrified he was of what was happening down there. With every fiber of his being he tried and tried, but could only watch helplessly as Tarrlok advanced towards Korra. He desperately wished that she would move, or do something, but the councilman picked her up, and walked out of view, heading deeper into the building.

He ground his teeth, hating everything about himself as he did the only thing he could do. A minute later, he acted, running back outside, diving through the open window and unfolding his glider. He took to the air, using it to climb the wind to the roof quickly. The large open space at the back of the building greeted him, and he heard the faint noise of a car engine nearby. He squinted, and saw a square and solid Satomobile driving onto the highway, peeling away from city hall. He growled and gave chase, gliding towards the highway, below him, he could see a lonely pair of headlights piercing the darkness of midnight, and he strove to keep on it. He didn't relent, not taking his eye off of it for a second, gradually, he descended, lower and lower towards the car's roof. Without any regard for himself, he dropped down, taking out his sword and stabbing it into the thin metal, giving him a firm lifeline.

The driver side window was smashed open, and Tarrlok poked his head out, practically growling as he discovered the boy. Tai quickly hid from his view, rolling across the roof to dangle from the other side. He found himself looking through a barred window, and saw Korra, tied up and gagged on the floor of the van's interior. She was looking around herself desperately, and suddenly stopped when she saw him, making muffled noises of joy through the gag.

He gathered a ball of air in his hand, and pulled his arm back, to blow a hole into the side of the van. Suddenly he lost all control in his arm, the ball dissipated, and his nerves burned like fire as his blood was being manipulated. Tarrlok leant out of the window, a savage smile on his face, as the highway begin to grow thin, and rise higher, with a massive drop now on either side. "I'll be seeing you later Tai!" he threw his arms out, and Tai was wrenched away from the window violently, being pitched off the highway and disappearing into the alleyways below.

As he fell, he heard a muffled shout of terror as the truck picked up speed, pulling onto the highway towards the mountains that surrounded the city. He gritted his teeth as sensation returned to his body, and the fire in his arm flared. Fighting through it, he splayed his hand out, quickly calling for a cushion of air below him, he slammed into it, his fall arrested suddenly and very painfully. He gasped and yelped, and was flung to the slick concrete of the alley floor. His head slumped against the ground, as unconsciousness took him.


	9. The Fall, and The Crisis

_Central Markets, Republic City._

The girl walked quietly, keeping to herself as she joined the early morning rush to the Jing-Nan markets, every so often, her amber eyes glanced to the left and right, checking for any idiots who decided they'd try and be macho. Last time that happened, one had singed eyebrows, the other sporting a sooty black moustache, and the other three sent packing with burn marks all over. She chuckled quietly at the memory, looking up as she entered the market square. All around her, various smells attacked from all directions, launching a siege on the sense as she smelt fresh peaches, smoked fish, the heady scent of foggy swamp nectar, and her most favorite smell of all time…

"Flame-O noodles!" The salesman shouted. "Five packets for ten yuans! Won't get them any cheaper folks!"

Her wallet flashed open and she practically threw a handful of yuans at the mustached fire nation citizen. He pocketed the change with a practiced movement, and she moved past him, grabbing a armful of the red packets of _bliss_ and giving him a smile. He waved goodbye and she continued on, she stopped, and grabbed a brown bag nearby, and tipped the precious cargo into it's papery depths.

She spied several loaves of spiced bread, a delicacy from the Fire Nation homelands. Her mouth practically watered at the mere thought of tearing into the spongy bread and she immediately bought two loaves, placing them in the bag as well. It was at that point she began to buy more...essential...foods. Stuff like butter, or eggs, smoked meats, a few vegetables, and a couple jars of herbs never went astray. She enjoyed walking to the markets every three days. It gave her some time for herself, and let her enjoy the sights and smells of the inner city. Where she lived, she couldn't really experience that, although it was a nice suburb, sometimes she got a bit fed up with it. She was now realizing how petty that was.

Although, apart from university classes and the infiltration squad, this is all the time she really got to herself. Thinking about the squad got her thinking about the newcomer. Boto told her what happened, and she was really pissed off at the idiot. Now? It's kind of died away a bit. Her expression darkened considerably, doesn't mean she won't burn every scrap of hair on him though. Certain that she had gotten everything needed, she left the market square, heading past the tall wrought iron fence that encircled the Shi Tong Library. She chewed on one of the loaves as she walked, taking chance to have breakfast. The fence fell away, replaced by a long line of large shop fronts, baring everything from immaculate jewelery, to the latest in fashion, even replicas of air nomad gliders were on display in a few of the stores.

As she reached the end of the block she turned right, following the pavement as it ran past a small and well maintained parkland, one of many found in the richer districts of the city, which were small, but numerous, and were sprinkled liberally across the poorer districts. She sat down on one of the benches, and relaxed for a bit, quietly enjoying the spectacular view of the sun hitting the glass on the main dome of city hall. She frowned, when she noticed a hole had been blasted in one of it's walls. Water cascaded from it, and from where she was, she could see that the room inside was a light blue, and very spacious.

She stood back up and followed the pavement once more, eventually it ran in front of a cluster of buildings that sat in the shadow of the highway, which was practically deserted most of the time, and was usually reserved only for government passage or police transports. As she walked past the second apartment building, she heard a groan, and immediately stopped, and took a few steps back, so that she was now facing into the alleyway in between the buildings.

It would have been the worst place possible for someone to be in trouble. It lay directly under the highway structure, in a fashion that no matter what time it was, it never received a full blast of sunlight. Just beyond the fencing that lay at the back was the train line, providing a almost deafening amount of noise that blanketed any sounds in the little space.

She peered into it, spotting a shape stirring on the ground. Her mind was all for her just leaving it alone and going, but she would never forgive herself if someone needed her help. She advanced into the dark space slowly, cautious of the wriggling mass that now lay ten meters away from her. Suddenly a voice was heard.

"Sensha?"

Her eyes had fully adjusted to the gloom, and saw that Tai was lying on the ground, obviously in pain. She immediately rushed forward, standing over him with a concerned expression. "Tai!"

"Yeah. Had a bit of a fall." he groaned and rolled over, now facing upwards, looking at the sky visible between the looming buildings, his chest moved up and down with each breath and each one was making him wince.

She sighed and held onto her groceries with one hand, using the other to pull him onto his feet. He stumbled into her, causing her to take a few steps back. "Are you okay?"

He sighed and looked up at the highway. "No." he gestured weakly to the pavement. "Uh, can we get out of here?" She nodded and helped him out of there, steering him to the little parkland from before, she lowered him onto the wooden bench, and sat next to him.

She took out a packet of flame-O noodles, and tore it open, breaking the block into two halves, handing one of them to Tai. He accepted gratefully, and groaned in pain as he shifted to take the glider and sword off of his back, laying them next to him. "What happened?"

"Tarrlok." He practically spat out the name, stunning the girl for a few seconds, leaving her as quiet as the parkland around them.

"Wha-Tarrlok?" That surprised her, she glanced at him with a worried look as she closed her purse.

"Yeah, Korra went after him, to get some friends out of jail." She gave him a curious glance. "They didn't do anything wrong." he quickly added.

"What about Korra?" He fell silent, and a grim and unwanted theory came to her as she noticed a strange look in his eyes. "Tai?" her voice softened in tone, as she glanced at him.

"Gone." he whispered, hanging his head. "Tarrlok took her somewhere."

She stood up. "Than let's go."

A frown flashed across her as he didn't budge, still looking at the paved stones in front of the bench. "Why? He's probably left the city by now."

"We'll search City Hall, hopefully we can find some clues or something."

He sighed. "Okay." He took a bite out of the dry noodles, causing the brittle strands to crack and break. "You know, you could have brought a stove first."

She rolled her eyes and dragged him out of the park, walking across the street to a drinks vendor. She asked for two heater cups, paying the man with five bronze yuans. She snatched the noodle block from Tai's mouth, breaking it up before dumping it into the cup. She did the same with hers, and called a small flame into existence underneath his cup, soon enough the water had soaked through the noodles, separating it into individual strands. He took it without a thought, and downed it in one go, not bothering with thoughts of how hot it would be. He just regulated the temperature of it to a suitable level while in his body.

Sensha drank hers a bit more slowly as she held the brown bag out to him. He took it, holding it for her while they walked towards the city hall. As they neared the wide open square before the great structure, he began to limp, grunting every once in a while. "Come on, it's not too far now. Tell me what happened."

He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. He opened them. "They were going to form a group that would go around and bring peace to the city, you know, fighting crime, taking down equalists, that sort of thing." despite the horrible events playing in his head, he managed a chuckle. "You know what they called themselves? New Team Avatar. Bolin's idea naturally."

A glint of fangirlish joy arose in her eye, but disappeared as she nodded, urging him to continue. "So, everything went wrong when they went to a rally about the curfew for non-benders, Tarrlok had her friends thrown in jail, and she went to confront him about it." his face fell, and he had a dull look in his eyes again. "He used a strange kind of bending to knock her out. I followed the van as best I could, but than as soon as I got close, he somehow took control of my body. I-I couldn't move at all, felt like a damn puppet."

He looked at her again. "That's how I ended up where you found me." he was staring at the ground again, and she sighed.

"We'll figure something out, Tai." behind her words, her mind worked desperately, figuring out what she and him could do to help the situation. She noticed he was dragging his foot a little, more and more noticeably with each step he took. She looped an arm around him, giving him a reassuring smile. He nodded gratefully as they made their way across the massive open air square, heading towards the double doors that led into the building's main hall. A ferocious roar stopped them, and they looked at each other, they heard it again, coming from one of the side streets that opened onto city hall's flanks.

Curiosity got the better of them, and Tai thought he recognized the sounds from somewhere before. As they rounded the building's corner, they saw that a massive white creature had been backed up against a wall, and was swinging it's huge forepaws at the group of men surrounding it. Some of them held sturdy metal poles with a loop of rope hanging of the end, while others wore elbow length black gloves, and their fingertips crackled with electrical discharge.

Tai looked at Sensha, he started forwards, only to be stopped by his ankle. " That's Naga!"

She made a confused face while looking at the massive white mass of fur ahead. "Huh?"

"Korra's Polar-bear dog. Must have been waiting for her all night!"

"Even worse. Those are animal control officers."

"We need to help her." Tai stated resolutely, fueled by a desire to not fail again.

"I'll handle it, Tai. You aren't in any condition to do anything." he opened his mouth to argue, but grudgingly conceded the point. Sensha led them over, and a man with supple handle bar moustache spotted them, and scowled as he walked over.

"This is no concern of yours. Please keep your distance!"

Sensha put on a cutesy voice, and laughed whimsically. That laugh haunted Tai. "Oh! Sorry! We just left her here so we could grab some breakfast! We have classes soon and we were walking her back to the apartment!." she tilted her head, a massive smile spreading across her features.

Tai coughed to get the bewildered official's attention. "We were coming back to pick her up just now. Has she been any trouble?"

The man's eyebrow twitched, a reflection of his rapidly breaking mental state. He shook his head "You two shouldn't have left a animal like that here, she could have wandered off and caused damage to the city."

Sensha laughed again. "Oh it won't ever happen again, officer!" The man grumbled, and turned away from them, and whistled sharply. The catchers surrounding Naga immediately backed off, and joined into a single file line nearby.

The man nodded at the two of them. "Don't do this again, you two. Next time we won't give warning." he turned and walked away, with his men following him around a corner, and disappearing from sight. Sensha sighed with relief, and Tai was looking at her, with a smirk on his face.

"Stop it. I will drop you." she warned. Tai wiped the smirk off his face, and they looked back at Naga. The massive creature sniffed the air experimentally, and her ears pricked up as she recognized Tai's scent, immediately padding over, and settling in front of them, she howled a little.

He reached forward, rubbing her snout gently. "It's okay girl. We're trying to find her too." Naga nuzzled his hand as he looked around. "Naga, I need you to stay here. We're going inside. We'll be back soon." surprisingly, the massive beast appeared to understand him perfectly, and reluctantly settled on her haunches and laid her head down on the ground. As they left to enter the building, she raised her head to watch them go in.

The doors were open, and Sensha went to guide them inside. Tai spotted two pairs of metal boots standing guard on the other side, luckily she noticed as well, and immediately stepped back from view. They walked off, presumably towards the center of the room inside, and they acted quickly, they stood in the main hall, in full view of the officers there. Luckily all of them were preoccupied with something or someone near the stairs, so they had a bit of time to look around. Tai tapped Sensha on the shoulder, pointing to a small spiral staircase nearby, she nodded and took them up, quickly disappearing from the view of the officers.

As the two of them climbed onto the top step, they saw the broken portion of the stone railing that guarded the edge of the right side walkway, and the massive hole in the wall behind it. The hole led into a pale blue room, very large and very spacious. Tai couldn't summon so much as a puff of air right now, so he nodded towards one of the main corridors that connected to the rest of the building. Sensha got the message and they walked through, finding a staircase that connected all three floors.

She took them to the very top, and they found themselves in the corridor that opened onto the main hall's balcony. Tai leaned, trying to get a better view of the destroyed room. Whoever used it, obviously loved water, and the color blue. The checkered floor panels were all a light blue, with the gaps between them illuminated with a soft blue light, the largest of these panels was a darker tone, and also a darker light around it. On it were the remains of a immaculately carved desk. The wall behind it looked like it had swapped careers, and became a door instead, with devastating results. Clear, near freezing water flowed down it in a broken cascade, rapidly covering the floor, and was already soaking the two teen's feet.

They heard the early morning horns and beeps of traffic, and the far off yelling of large gatherings of people, and they walked towards the source. One of the large windows letting light into the room was broken, practically blown apart by a massive force. Tai looked at Sensha and shrugged. "There's nothing here."

The two of them walked back onto the balcony, and Tai saw something in the corner of his eye. A black length of metal wire, with two heavy iron balls at each end, was wrapped around a battered looking column. Tai arched an eyebrow and tapped Sensha on the shoulder, alerting her to the strange find. "That wasn't here last night."

"That's a equalist weapon.", she moved forward a bit, getting closer to closely examine it. The whump of a camera bulb nearby made her whip around, nearly causing Tai to fall onto the ground. There was no one there, but they heard it again, and Sensha moved over to the balcony, peering down into the main hall. Tarrlok sat on the steps leading to the council table, being healed by a man with a impressively large pale blue hat. The whump originated from a photographer's camera, as he snapped shots of the devastated room.

Tai growled, and Sensha quickly flicked him in the ear, getting the message he died down, and watched with narrowed eyes. "What's he playing at?"

"I'm more concerned at where he got the bolo and glove from." she pursed her lips, wondering if Boto's warnings about the councilman were true after all.

"He's corrupt remember?" Tai snidely remarked.

Sensha gave him a wry smirk, than turned back to watching. Footsteps echoed around the cavernous space as Tenzin walked in, with an arched eyebrow raised impossibly high. He immediately saw Tarrlok sitting down on the steps and strode towards him, paying no mind to the wrecked floor he walked on. He started to talk with the councilman, Sensha and Tai could only catch snippets of what they were saying, and even than, it was impossible to guess at. Suddenly Tarrlok's eyes shifted, and were now looking at the broken railing near where the two teens listened from.

He zeroed in on them immediately, and as he saw Tai, the boy instantly felt a pall of ill placed fear wash over him. Just as the feeling arrived it had vanished, as Tarrlok suddenly smiled like a shark, and called out to them. "Good morning Sensha. _Tai_." he said in a sing-song voice. Tenzin raised his eyebrow and turned to see them both.

Tai managed to stand up straight, and grabbed Sensha, dropping off the balcony to the floor below. The air slowed, culminating in them practically floating down. Tai stumbled as he felt a loss of balance, his legs feeling like jelly. Sensha reaffirmed her grip on him, and she guided them towards Tenzin and Tarrlok.

His master crossed his arms, and looked at them, particularly Tai, disapprovingly. "Care to explain what you were doing here?"

Tai immediately went to talk first, only for Sensha to cut him off. "Uh, we were passing by, saw a hole in the wall, and as a citizen should do, we investigated." she smiled, and in Tai's mind, he rolled his eyes.

"Is that so Sensha?" Tarrlok smiled like a shark, throwing a dark glance at Tai every chance he got.

"Yes... sir." she laughed weakly, beginning to drag Tai towards the double doors. "In actual fact, we were just leaving. Right _Tai_?" Tai was staring daggers at Tarrlok, staying silent.

Sensha edged towards the main doors, practically having to drag Tai with her. She led them through the doors, and they were outside again. They headed right, following the building until it terminated at a corner. Naga was just ahead, and they both moved towards her.

Tai was breathing hard, and Sensha dropped him gently, propping him against Naga's side. The polar-bear dog didn't mind, and craned her large head to look at Tai, and sniff him. Sensha turned around, and saw Tenzin walking towards them, the many questions on his tongue evident even from where she stood.

He stopped in front of Naga, and looked down at Tai. "What _were _you doing here-" he glanced at Sensha. "I apologize, my name is Tenzin."

She inclined her head. "I'm Sensha." they both glanced back at Tai.

Who was staring in the direction of City Hall. "Korra was here last night."

"What?" Tenzin stared at his student, mind working out the consequences.

"She went to confront Tarrlok-" He stopped and swallowed painfully, slipping down Naga's flank a little as Sensha looked at him with worry.

"But the Equalists-"

With a grunt he pushed himself back up. "Yeah. Tarrlok's lying."

His master crossed his arms. "That's... a very bold accusation Tai, I'm inclined to believe you, but are you sure?" No matter what Tenzin said, Tai knew what he saw.

"Of course I am." he sighed, but Tenzin's curious expression told him to keep going. "I thought she might need some help with Tarrlok, so I used the glider to get to the mainland." He hung his head, that feeling of helplessness refreshing again. "But I was too late. Tarrlok used a weird bending technique to...control her body somehow, and he threw her into a truck. I gave chase and was about to break her out when he got me as well, and I fell into the alley and blacked out." He looked down at the ground, screwing his eyes shut as a wetness threatened to burst through.

Tenzin noticed the signs of what the teen was about to do. "Don't do that Tai!"

He looked up suddenly. "Do what? I failed. Plain and simple."

"Grow up! You couldn't possibly have known what was going to happen, so don't beat yourself up about it."

"We have no clue where she is!"

"Not quite. We'll head down to the station, try and find surveillance photos taken by the night patrol ships. From there we can figure something out."

Tai nodded. He suddenly thought of something, hoping to get at least one good thing today. "Tenzin, what's happening with Mako, Bolin and Asami being released?"

He grunted in frustration. "It's getting nowhere. No matter what I do, I can't get them out. Right now they are looking at five months until they will be released."

"We can still try." Sensha pitched in, unsure of what else she could offer.

Tenzin nodded as he looked at Naga. "What about her?"

Tai had the answer. "She can go back to the island."

Not waiting for an answer, he turned to Naga. "Okay girl, I need you back at the Island." he scratched her behind the ears. "Can you do that for me?" She stood up and barked, than lumbered away at a fast speed, quickly leaving them behind.

"How did you-"

"I met with one on my way to Republic City."

Tenzin shook his head, bewildered, and turned away from them. They followed him back to the main doors, nearby lay Oogi, who was yawning and grumbling as he waited for his master to come back. He sneezed, and the massive gust of wind utterly obliterated the rose bush in front of his giant nose. Tenzin gave him a disapproving look as he clambered onto his neck, picking up the reins and waiting for Tai and Sensha to climb aboard.

Sensha stopped him, and climbed on first, reaching her hand down to Tai. He grabbed it, but nearly slid out of her grip as she pulled him into the saddle. "Thanks."

She glanced at him, smirking. "No problem."

The mighty creature took off, and they rose until they were just above the blue dome sitting atop the magnificent structure. Tai watched the streets below, and as he scanned the waterfront nearby, he saw a small white mass moving through the calm water, towards the island that sat in the middle of the bay.

He sat back and watched the skies over them race by quickly, whiling away the travel time by picking out shapes in the cloud formations. No one had any cause to strike up a conversation, leaving the journey as a quiet one, giving each of them the chance to catch up on their own thoughts.

The five iron capped domes of the police headquarters came into view, as they flew over a road that ran straight for almost a mile in each direction. Tai peered over the edge of the saddle, and saw that a large number of metal bending police officers streamed in and out of the building, using every door it had. All berthing points on the domes were completely filled, with airships coming and going as they patrolled the city.

He heard Tenzin mutter something, most likely a question to himself, and than they descended, alighting onto a space just in front of the main doors. A few of the officers below barked orders, quickly working to clear the flow of people from walking underneath the ten ton creatures shadow.

Oogi set down with a grumble, and Tenzin slid off of his neck, and waited patiently for Sensha to help Tai down. They waited for the stream of people to abide, and quickly went inside, before it could start up again. The lobby was complete chaos. Every corner held groups of officers, listening to reports on the radio, or taking statements from a average citizen. A few had commandeered one of the long benches nearby, laying spools and lengths of wire across it as they modified, tweaked or repaired their equipment. One of them looked over, and excused himself, taking off his wolf helmet as he neared the three of them.

"Hey Boto." Tai said. The water bender didn't even bat an eyelid when he saw Sensha supporting him, merely nodding his head as if he expected something like this would happen.

He addressed Tenzin first. "Councilman, sorry I have to ask but is there a reason you're here? It's a real mess right now."

"Where is Saikhan, Boto?"

Boto held a puzzling look, and a questioning eyebrow. "Uh...he's in Commander Makei's office. Trying to work out a plan to find the place the equalists took Korra to." Tai sighed and shook his head, with Sensha smiling apologetically. "Unless that's not true?" He ventured.

Tenzin clapped a hand onto his shoulder. "Never mind that now, can you take us there?"

"Sure thing. First things first..." he flipped the pouch on his hip open, and drew a stream of water out of it. "Tai, we need to take care of your injuries first." Tai sighed and grunted a little, as he raised his leg to set his foot down on the bench nearby, clinging to Sensha for balance.

"You can heal?", the young man nodded, his dark blue eyes focusing on molding the shapeless blob of water around Tai's ankle.

"Taught by the best." No one needed to ask to clarify who that was.

Tai smiled inadvertently, as the aches and pains in his ankle disappeared and it could fully support his weight again. He pulled away from Sensha, and nodded gratefully towards Boto. "Thanks man."

Boto chuckled, before walking off at a quick pace, urging them to follow. "I'm not as good as Korra, but it should heal up alright." he took them through the main corridor and up the stairs, passing a few officers along the way, including an arguing pair.

"Not this _again _Hei..." the older of them complained.

"But it makes sense right? The councilman's been looking to get rid of her for a while now, we all know it. Who's to say _he_ didn't kidnap her?"

"Because kidnapping the Avatar is a _monumentally _stupid thing to do, now let's go!"

The younger of the pair sighed and fell silent, nodding at Boto as he led them up the final flight of stairs. Their feet collectively found the plush red carpet of the second floor offices, occupied mainly by the higher ups and more bureaucratically minded officers of the institution. Of course there was one exception to the rule, and that exception sat in a office that Boto had just opened the door to.

Makei was inside, and was rubbing his temples in frustration, tossing glances at the top drawer on his desk every once in a while. Saikhan was doing the same, and looked up the four of them stepped into the room. Tenzin took the lead here. "Commander. Chief."

Saikhan looked at Makei, and the commander shrugged. "Councilman." It was than that Makei noticed the three others in his retinue. "Lieutenant Boto, doesn't the Taskforce hold debriefs in the sub level planning office?"

"Sir. I only came along to accompany Councilman Tenzin."

Saikhan looked up and stopped rubbing his temples. "Hold it Commander. How can we help, Tenzin?"

Tenzin eyed him warily. "I've come here to negotiate the release of three new arrivals."

"As I said before, I can't, they've been listed as equalist sympathisers! My hands are tied."

"Sorry Tenzin, but we're focusing on a far more important matter now." Makei added.

He strode forwards, stroking his beard. "Yes. Korra's disappearance."

"Anything to add?"

"She was on the island last night, before she disappeared. I made sure of that." he tossed a look at Tai, who shrugged.

Makei rubbed his chin and sighed. "Sensha?"

She shook her head. "I only know what everyone else does."

"Pity. Tai?"

"I..." he hesitated, suddenly painfully aware of what could happen if the information reached Tarrlok's ears. That could spell trouble for both him and Tenzin. He avoided looking at Sensha and Boto. "I don't know."

Makei watched him like a hawk. "But aren't you a student alongside her? Don't you both train under Tenzin?"

He swallowed. "We do. But...no, I don't know where she could have gone."

The commander sighed explosively. "And we're still on square one." his hand flicked over a sheet of paper, and he glanced at it before scrunching it up and tossing it into the bin.

Saikhan rubbed his face. "We're stretched thin. We don't have the manpower to search the entire city for the Avatar _and_ our missing men. And our esteemed councilman will be expecting results soon."

Inside Tai's mind, he raged, and desperately wanted to tell them the truth. But than Tai hit upon a idea. "Hold on, if we find information on where the Equalists took your men, will you release Mako, Asami, and Bolin?"

Sensha followed his lead. "We're the infiltration squad, we're perfect for situations like this!"

Makei and Saikhan glanced at each other, and a silent understanding was born between them. The chief looked back at Tai and Sensha, than at Boto. "Lieutenant?"

Boto straightened, standing with his hands behind him. "We can do it, sir."

"You do realize you'll have no support whatsoever? You'll be operating alone and on your own time?"

"We do."

Makei shrugged. And Saikhan nodded. "Alright. You get information on our men, and I'll authorize the release of the three of them. Councilman, a request?" he turned to Tenzin. "I'll be blunt, I'll need you to run interference for us. You need to make sure Tarrlok doesn't discover what we're up to."

The air bender raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were in his pocket?"

"Unfortunately. As long as I can keep his influence limited to myself, I'll be fine."

Tenzin understood perfectly. "That is a huge risk, chief." he inclined his head. "Thank you."

He turned to the other three, and jerked his head at the door. They understood and left the office, with Tenzin coming out last. Everyone turned to Tai, and Sensha beat them all to it. "Tai what's wrong with you!"

"Several things. But on this one I'm right."

Sensha had a frosty tone to her voice. "What..."

"I can't tell them, I do that, that means Tarrlok can use his tricks on them to find out what they know, he does that, and we're all screwed."

"I...ergh!" She threw up her hands, and left down the stairs, Boto followed her, casting looks back at them. Tenzin glanced at him. "Is that the truth?"

He sighed. "Well. The only people I can tell are those two and Korra's friends. I know you Tenzin, but if Tarrlok gets to you, your family could become a target."

Tenzin seemed to be bottling up something, than sighed, releasing it anti-climatically. "I trust you." he put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Be careful Tai. Republic City can be dangerous for the unprepared." he went back into the office, closing the door behind him. Tai stood there, and nodded.

I will.

Tai leant back against the wall. No one passing through really gave him any pause, being that they had business of their own to see to. He looked up at the ceiling, and breathed out, trying to clear his head and focus. Something he really needed to get better at.

"Tai." His ears tried their best to block out the man who had just said his name, trying to send messages to his fear-stricken brain to tune out the voice. A shadow fell across him, and reluctantly he looked down, seeing Tarrlok standing in front of him, his arm in a sling.

He showed no signs of what happened the night before, his hair braided and neat. Tai's nose curled at the smell of the heady perfume which wafted off the man, and his eyes were almost certain they could see clouds of the terrible stuff.

"Make it quick."

Tarrlok showed that shark like grin again, and Tai thought he caught a glimpse of the feral light that danced in his eyes, belying his true nature. "Don't think I don't know."

Tai feigned ignorance. "About what?"

Suddenly the weasel-snake leaned in close, and Tai felt his blood move in strange ways. "I have my eye on you." Than he whispered something, framing it in a guttural growl. "_You'll never find her._" He hid the increasing feeling of panic behind a glare, but was finding it hard to concentrate on the focus of his anger. His panic welled suddenly, when without any input from him, his pinky finger bent backwards, making him gasp at the shock.

Anyone passing by wouldn't have seen the feral grin on the councilman, or the fire burning in the boy's eyes. And just like that, he was gone, already walking down the hallway in the direction of the elevator.

Tai let the façade down, and the blood drained from his face, leaving it pale. He felt paralysed, and doubt flickered across his features.


	10. The Search, and The Urchin

Tai walked off, paying no mind to the officers and clerks he passed by, turning the corner, he found the stairs down, and took them two at a time, getting to the ground level in no time. He passed the reception desk, not even acknowledging her greeting as he pushed the doors open, blinking slightly as the sun light blared into his vision, a sign that at last the cloud cover had lifted, he confirmed it, glancing upwards to see a bright blue sky. Internally, he chuckled darkly. Certainly didn't seem so bright down here. Sensha and Boto were nearby, talking quietly to each other. As he approached they stopped, with the girl scowling at him, and the young man adopting a confused expression again.

Sensha crossed her arms. "Something to say?"

"Here isn't the best place."

Boto spoke up. "We can talk on the way to our first lead."

Tai blinked. "We already have one?"

"Remember Skoochy?"

"I remember you mentioning a dark sewer and an electrified glove, _his name popped up_."

"He's a good kid, but sometimes throttling him is at the top of my list." Boto sighed, Sensha chuckled while Tai smirked. "So, what's our transport?"

Boto grinned and led them back into the station. They followed him past the desk, turning into the corridor that terminated at the huge freight elevator. When everyone was inside, Boto pulled the lever, and with a slight lurch the platform began a jerky descent. The gates slid aside, and a troop of fully armored metal benders were facing them. Boto quickly squeezed past them, leading the others down the hallway. He turned right, and Tai remembered this being the way to the squad briefing room. But they bypassed it, with Boto hitting a button next to a massive slab of metal directly opposite. With a squealing noise, the slab slid to the right, and settled in front of the wall with a jerky halt.

He led the way into a gargantuan space, with almost every wall pockmarked with garage doors, a few were open, revealing the massive piles of armor and metal spools inside, a few others held waiting trucks, currently tended to by mechanics covered in varying degrees of oil, they held no tools on their person, instead using their hands to manipulate the inner workings of the vehicles.

Tai noticed one of the bays was conspicuously smaller than the rest, and Boto confirmed his assumption by moving over to it, and raising the shutter with the pull of a lever. It was sparse compared to the others, but the things it held were almost divinely crafted, compared to the rest. Taking up the majority of the small space, and if objects had feelings, pride, was a stunningly sublime motorcycle. The chassis cover was a shiny black, with a small symbol made of gleaming silver protruding from the smooth surface. The metal that made up the cycle's skeleton and machinery, gleamed subtly, showing a silvery luster emanating from every inch of it.

The handle bars were surprisingly austere compared to the rest of it, merely wrapped in a rough brown leather material. He noticed a small length of thin black string was wrapped around the right handlebar, with a ocean blue sphere of cold rock weighing it down, he watched as it caught the attention of the bay's single light, which set the inside ablaze with a pale blue, yet strangely warm, glow. Tai than saw the little grey sidecar that was crudely attached to the sublime machine, and frowned.

"Our ride?"

"Yep."

He sighed. "I'll take the sidecar." Boto frowned, almost as if he was expecting a massive argument. Sensha smirked at Tai, grabbing one of the black helmets nearby and putting it on experimentally. Her amber eyes were still vivid, even when hidden behind the visor.

Tai also grabbed a helmet, than looked at Boto. "No helmet for you?"

Boto answered him by putting his wolf helm on. "No need. This is a bike helmet as well."

"Eh, I shouldn't be surprised..."

Boto chuckled and mounted the seat, placing his hands on the handle bars. Sensha wrapped her hands around his waist, and Tai sat down in the little sidecar, grunting slightly as he sat on a protruding bolt.

The motorcycle growled beautifully, and Boto handled it expertly, steering it forwards and through the massive entry way to the outside, guiding up it the ramp.

A armored truck, with voices carrying to them from the inside, passed them at the top of the ramp. They fitted in behind the massive vehicle, and as soon as both peeled out onto Avatar road, Boto immediately gunned the engine, coaxing the cycle to overtake it on the right side, falling in behind a much more speedier bright red roadster, the sun caught the pearlescent paint, causing Tai's eyes to bleed at the explosion of color.

He flipped the visor down, just as the roadster sped up, with Boto matching it as it turned left, going through a street lined with buildings displaying every shade of red, orange yellow, reflected by it's occupants in their choice of clothing. Sensha's eyes narrowed, and Tai glanced over at her, having to shout over the rushing wind.

"Sensha! You alright?"

She nodded stiffly. Than changed her mind, shaking her head. "No, this is Agni Kai territory.", she grimaced, and tapped Boto on the shoulder, the young man was focused completely on the road, and could only grunt to show he acknowledged her. "Skoochy lives around here now?" she asked, not quite hiding the sense of concern or alarm in her voice.

Boto nodded. "Unfortunately. Had to move after equalists began taking over the neighborhood, not to worry though, he's smart, got in good with the triad by giving them info about the monsoons and quakers. He and his kids get free food and are left alone." Sensha stayed silent, and nodded her assent.

"The Agni Kai's? How bad are they?" Tai asked, genuinely curious.

Boto laughed knowingly. "Simply put, they're sane compared to Rorik and his monsoons." he stopped talking, and concentrated on another turn, guiding the cycle down a cobblestoned alleyway, meant for feet rather than wheels. This translated in Tai's sidecar being knocked around savagely, and he held on for dear life. The cobblestones ran out suddenly, as the wheels sank into the loose dirt of a track running alongside a canal, the water was remarkably clear, seeing as it ran straight through the middle of a congested neighborhood.

Evidence of this was seen in the occasional piles of rubbish that floated down, flow, disappearing in the dark, churning mouth of a large drain. A small stone bridge connected across the gap, and that was where Boto finally stopped their all dismounted, and Tai gracefully tumbled out of the side car, groaning as his face took some abuse from the dirt covered ground. He got up quickly, prompting a sigh from Sensha and a shake of the head from Boto.

"All done, your gracefulness?"

He blew out a puff of air, flipping a loose strand of black hair out of his face. "I'm good."

Boto nodded. "Skoochy and his gang live just through there," he pointed across the bridge, through which a large circular area was in view, around the edges they could see from their position were the dark maws of empty drain pipes, dotted all over the walls of the enclosed space. "You two will be talking to him, he'll probably ask for a favor, but believe me, it's much quicker, and less of a headache, to get what he needs." The two teens sighed as they nodded. Sensha twigged onto something, and frowned, crossing her arms. "Wait a minute, where will you be?"

Boto flipped his visor back down. "I'll be tracking down the next lead."

Tai eyed him. "Don't tell me it's a clown at a traveling circus?" he joked. Boto actually nodded, in all seriousness. Causing his face to fall immensely.

"You're close, it's a armadillo-tiger tamer." he smiled behind his visor. "I should be back tomorrow morning, Sensha." he turned to her, "Have you got the pouch?" she frowned.

"Yes..." she dug a small crimson pouch out of her pocket, and snapped the golden clasp open, revealing two large golden yuans, and ten smaller sized silver ones, and a lone, tiny bronze yuan. She nodded and shut it, placing it back in her pocket.

"Good." without a further word, he gunned the engine, and drove past them, disappearing back onto the street. Tai glanced at Sensha. "We're sharing a room aren't we?"

She nodded somberly, while he shrugged, perfectly content with their situation. "If it helps, I call floor." that brought the tinges of mirth to her mouth, and she nodded, turning to walk across the bridge. He followed closely, feeling vaguely uneasy being inside gang territory. The walls on either side of them were grey, with cracks running through them, bolted onto their surface were thick wires that snaked everywhere. They made their way into the open space, ending up in the lowered central dip. They both scratched their heads, Sensha heard a whistling noise, and whirled Tai out of the way. Tai narrowed his eyes and glanced behind them, seeing a metal bolo wrapped loosely around one of the wires. The voice of a jaded minor echoed out of one of the open pipes.

"Where's Boto?"

Tai went to answer, only for Sensha to shoosh him. "He's not with us."

No answer came from the pipe, only another bolo, the weight of the ends spun Tai around as it wrapped around his wrists painfully.

"Hey! We're not here to hurt you!" he shouted. He heard a chuckle from the pipe. That pissed him off. "We're on Boto's squad you little runt!"

He heard the pipe chuckle again. A single kid, wearing a dirty coal miner's beret, walked towards them. He nodded at Sensha, than stared at Tai. "Boto's friends huh? Make it quick."

"We're trying to track down Korra." Sensha explained. "Skoochy, you know a lot about what goes in the city, can you help us?"

Skoochy hid his surprise behind a bored face. "Why would I do that?"

"The city needs the Avatar."

"Touching, but how does finding her help me?"

Tai growled. "Maybe it'll help you when I don't slam you into the air!"

"Save it, windy." Skoochy crossed his arms. "I might know what road they took."

"Where?"

He cleared his throat, and held a dirty palm out. "I need something from you two first."

Sensha smiled graciously. "Of course Skoochy. What do you need?"

The boy looked around at all of the other tunnels, than to them. His stomach growled loudly. "The Agni's took a big box of food from us, I want it back."

"That doesn't seem so hard."

"From their headquarters."

Tai sighed. "Fine, where do we start?"

"The thug's who took it probably stopped at their warehouse, I have no clue where their headquarters is, so you'll have to figure it out from there."

Sensha nodded, and glanced at the bolo wrapped around Tai's wrists. A slender flame emanated from her index finger, and she burnt the rope holding his wrists together, it fell to the ground, the two ends charred and glowing orange. Tai rubbed his wrists as he followed Sensha out of the hideout.

"So we what do we do? Take out the thugs now, or follow them back to their warehouse?"

"I'm thinking we follow them, it's better than hoping one of them has a map with them."

"Good thinking." Tai shrugged. "I try." Sensha rolled her eyes at him as they walked out into the street again, standing near the wall to let people pass through.

As if on cue, the flow of people ended, and they saw a commotion across the street, massive man, whose arms were twice as thick as Tai's, and heavily muscled, held a shopkeeper by his collar, the old man was terrified, his green eyes glistening with fear as he pleaded and begged to be put down. Watching this with amusement was a woman, whose brown eyes danced with delight at her partner's display, and her mouth was twisted in a cruel sneer.

Tai glanced at Sensha, "wanna do the good couple routine again?", he laughed, and Sensha whacked him in the shoulder. She smirked, her amber eyes twinkling with amusement. "Let's."

She gripped his arm with the power of a vice, making his eyes water briefly. Scowling at her, and being answered by a innocent smile, he shook his head, and walked across the street with her in tow. The old man's eyes flashed towards them briefly, recognizing a way to get rid of the two thugs. He got into character, smiling sweetly at Sensha, while she returned the gesture with a warm squeeze.

They both chuckled at the same time, prompting the cruel woman to turn towards them, scowling. "Buzz off." she said.

Tai noticed she was holding a golden pendant in the shape of a flickering flame in her hand, and he laughed, immediately brushing past her without a care. The old man's eyes seemed to boggle when he realized that these two would be no help at all. From his vantage point at the grip of the brute, he showed a toothy smile.

"C-can I help you two?"

Sensha smiled at him. "Oh! We were just having a browse, don't mind us!"

The shopkeeper laughed uneasily. "Y-yeah, I'm not in any trouble or anything.."

Suddenly Sensha dropped the act, giving him a wink. The old man was definitely confused now, as he tried to wrap his head around the gesture, she just as quickly got into character. "Anything you like baby?"

Tai was busy running his hands over the shiny top of the stall, staring in wonder at the jewels contained within. Than he glanced at Sensha. "She's _right_ here with me." he said sweetly, inside his head he replayed a impending scene of a figure being immolated in a massive explosion, with the amber eyes of the girl nearby blazing furiously.

She answered him with a sickening smile, and turned towards the old man, suddenly she blinked twice, as if noticing he was being lifted two feet into the air. "Why are you doing that to him?" she asked the pale skinned brute.

The cruel woman answered for him. "You don't get out much, do you little girl?"

The big guy chuckled, sounding like the beats of a bass drum. "We're Agni Kai's."

"Oh! Those terrible people!" Sensha exclaimed. Behind her back she straightened her fingers, and a tiny flame appeared above each tip. "You two aren't affiliated with them are you?"

The brute scratched his head in confusion, Tai assumed it was because of the word 'affiliated'. Poor guy probably never went to school. His cheesy grin persevered, as he casually stepped back a bit, now behind the massive thug. His partner advanced menacingly towards Sensha, who still bore her smile and good cheer as she jammed her bony face right up against hers, trying to scare her.

The girl giggled, than suddenly changed her warm smile to a menacing one. She drew her hand out from behind her back, and pushed it into the woman's chest. The five wisps of fire combined, and billowed outwards, sending the Agni Kai thug hurtling backwards into a alleyway nearby. Right as her partner turned to investigate, Tai acted, and gathered a ball of air in his palm, he jabbed down towards the back of the giant's knee, causing him to cry out and fall to the pavement, dropping the old man in the process. He mouthed thanks as he grabbed his cart, which jingled and tinkled as he pushed it away from the four of them, disappearing around the street corner.

He moved fast for a man pushing sixty.

Tai jumped on top of the brute, his feet perched on the man's belly precariously. He wobbled slightly as the giant began to roll and tustle under him, he quickly stomped on the man's face, trying to quell his movements, instead the brute roared and grabbed his legs. Suddenly the ground dropped away as he was dangling from the strong man's grip, head now where his feet aught to be. He struggled and tried to gather some wind to force the gigantic meat hooks open, and was rewarded with a swift punch landing on his chest. He coughed and sputtered, and barely registered the man throwing him down the alley where his partner had landed. He regained his sense as he neared his landing, and curled into a roll, receiving several scratches instead of a few broken bones. He popped back up, than ducked again, as he sense, or heard, the screaming woman blast a ball of flame at him from behind. He twirled around, windmilling his arms, the air in between them was shaped into a pressurized ball, and slammed into woman, sending her tumbling along the cracked cement beneath their feet.

He heard the roar of a massive stream of fire hurtling towards him from behind, and he quickly spun to the side, unleashing a few blasts of wind from his hands and feet. A few of them were on target, but only managed to elicit a small growl of frustration from the brute channeling the stream at him. He moved forwards slowly, lumbering with each step as he kept directing the flames towards Tai, he took advantage of the narrow area, and began sweeping it from side to side, scorching the walls and partially melting discarded pieces of rubbish on the ground.

Tai dove underneath the stream, looking at a rush of fire above him, the intense heat hit him full on, and he began to sweat and his vision dimmed. He flung a hand behind him, and blasted some wind, giving him a little more speed and distance as he fought desperately to stay conscious. As soon as he felt the rough material of the thug's shoes brush against the sole of his shoes, he quickly wrapped a hand around the man's left ankle, with one hand trailing, he was dragged past out from under the stream, and he let go, he was just above the ground now, and could pick out the many unique cracks and fissures in the rock, he pushed himself up with an almighty blast of air, propelling him a few feet above the big guy. He hadn't noticed that Tai was no longer at the other end, and never saw his foot crash into the side of his thick skull. The momentum lent strength to his kick, and the thug was out cold before he tipped forwards, and crashed towards the ground.

Tai landed roughly, and caught a flash of movement and fire in the corner of his eye, he whipped his head around, seeing the flaming hand of the woman inches from his face. Sensha leapt over him, using her shoulder to send the woman crashing to the ground with a sigh.

He sighed with relief, and tipped his head back against the wall. Sensha pulled him up, and than crossed her arms, scowling. "I shouldn't have acted so quickly, we can't find the warehouse now!" she grunted with frustration.

"Don't worry about it, we'll check their pockets for a map or something."

The fire died in her eyes as she calmed down, giving him a smile. "I-sorry, you're right."

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?", she sighed, frowning. "I can't stand those brutes." she looked away from him, a bad memory welling up in her thoughts. He noticed this. "Did they do something to you?" he asked quietly.

She glanced back at him, than looked down at the ground. "Not to me.", she sobbed a little, and Tai reached a hand out towards her. She didn't shrink back or shy away, but regarded him with a gentle look. "My best friend."

Getting the message, he settled his hand on her shoulder. "Say no more. I know the feeling." she sniffed a little, wiping a tear away from her eye.

"Well...not quite the same, but similar."

"Moment. Ruined." Sensha stated, but she chuckled, and seemed to lighten up with his comment. He settled for a smile, and shrugged. Turning his attention to the unconscious woman, he patted the pockets on her dark crimson pants, and made a small satisfied noise, as he pulled out a small folded piece of paper, yellowed, but still serviceable. He waved it a little, than unfolded it, revealing a map of the district they were standing in.

He walked out of the alley, gesturing for Sensha to follow. The street was as lively as before, although the flow of traffic had increased slightly, and the smell of freshly baked pastries wafted across to Tai's nose, he briefly lost sight of their objective, currently loose in the mental images of what awaited if he entered the small little corner shop. Sensha tapped his shoulder, giving him a strange look.

He looked around, searching for the symbol that would tell them which street they were on. After a bit he noticed the profile of a small but thick slab of wood, painted crimson, and displaying the proud image of a baying bull-crocodile. He turned to Sensha, and stabbed his index finger down on a tiny line running near the waterfront. "Bull-crocodile street. Aaaand," he slid it across the parchment, settling on a large black rectangle sitting two blocks away, circled with faded red ink. "That's the warehouse." he folded the map up, slipping it into a voluminous pocket on his greatcoat.

Sensha pulled back a sleeve, revealing a wrist watch, it's brass surface shining brilliantly. "It's 1:00 am now. How about we grab something before we head down?"

"Sure." Tai than smirked. "Got the pouch?"

* * *

_Police Headquarters_

A woman was sobbing into a faded yellow handkerchief, as she and her husband were led into the reception area from the outside, with the other myriad people in the straggly line acting the same way, a old man with calm blue eyes and rough and wrinkled brown skin merely bowed his head, as the woman next to him held onto his hand, trying to keep him close. At the back of the line was a young man with blazing yellow eyes, who scowled and shouted as he threw his hands around, bound to the other one in metal cuffs. The procession was flanked by a squad of metal benders, with two officers assigned to each person in the line. Commander Makei quietly sighed as he walked at the back, taking the rearguard.

a few heads turned to look at the new arrivals, a few of them instantly turning away in shame or disappointment, others looked on, hopelessly snared by the spectacle of a fully equipped squad of officers making their way towards the reception desk.

As the group of prisoners reached the reception desk, one of the men at the front went to check in with the receptionist. Makei waited as he did so, checking to make sure none of his 'criminals' tried to escape or make a break for the exit. The man finished his talk and walked towards the commander.

"Sir, everything is in order, we'll get them to processing."

He nodded, and the young officer immediately made a crisp 180, taking his place at the front of the group, and leading them towards the freight elevator. Makei waited until they had all gotten on board before walking off through that corridor, taking the stairs instead. A few passing officers greeted him as they made their way down, he returned the gesture, not wanting to stop them in their duties. He took the corridor that lead to his office, slipping inside and closing the door. With a sigh he took off his hat, hanging it off the back of his chair as he sat down.

He was still for a moment, trying not to register the neat stack of reports and missives looking back at him from his desk. The topmost one, was typed with bold, black ink, and gave off a sense of foreboding just from staring at the perfectly square paper.

With a grunt of frustration he looked away, and with a well practised hand, opened the topmost drawer, causing a bottle of golden brown liquid to roll and bump against it's side. He grabbed it by the neck, hoisting it out of the space and setting it down in front of him, standing vigil next to the stack of reports. His right hand continued rummaging around in the drawer, and found a cylindrical shape, he brought the shot glass out without ceremony, and set it down next to the bottle of amberei.

As he curled his fingers around the smooth exterior of the bottle's body, he found himself back in a seedy little dive, body bowed as he loomed over a dirty glass of dubious liquid. He sighed and scratched his stubble as he watched a man nearby get roughed up by a few punks, the little spikes and metal inserts in their clothing screaming the name monsoon. He looked back to his drink, staring down into the murky depths as he tried to forget the events of a week ago. Her green eyes were absolutely screaming for help, her pale, and dainty hand was reaching towards him, and all he could do was stand there and watch her disappear, never to be seen or heard by him again...

He growled and shoved the little glass back into the drawer, shutting it roughly, and he grabbed the bottle by the neck, popping off the lid, and tipped his head back, pouring a generous amount of the yellow ambrosia into his throat. He slammed it back down, and picked up a report, scowling as he saw the words 'non bender' and 'suspect' repeated again and again. He had a right mind to empty the bottle than and there. Tenzin be damned.

A knock on the door shook him out of his torpor. He stoppered the bottle and put it away, as Saikhan opened the door, and approached the seat in front of him.

"How'd the latest raid go?" he asked.

"Without a hitch. 'equalists' were unarmed, and didn't put up much of a fight."

"I'm sorry Mak, I can't do anything to countermand the councilman's order."

"He won't stop until every non bender's behind bars!"

"You think I don't know that?" Saikhan said defensively. His nose twitched, and he glanced at his friend. "Amberei?"

"Yeah..."

The chief sighed as he ran a hand down his face. "Spirits. Everyone in the force could use a hit of the stuff."

Makei gave him a dark chuckle. "I'll drink to that." he sighed, and picked up one of the reports. Looking at a picture of a old woman bowed with age, yet her brown eyes still glistened with intelligence and life. "Juna Pei-bo, chef for the Badgermole restaurant, out on bolong street. Charges include; Possession of illegal weapons; harboring of equalist elements; and resisting arrest." he dropped the sheet, and it floated down to the top of the pile. "These are Amon's best?"

"Don't ask me, haven't a clue what Tarrlok's up to."

A ringing noise drew their attention to a small but ornate phone sitting on top of the cabinet nearby. Saikhan gave him a wary look and brought took it down from there, placing it in front of Makei. He gestured towards it, and Makei took the receiver off it's rest, holding it up to his ear.

"Commander Makei...yes...of course...right away sir." he slammed it back down, not caring if the voice on the other end noticed. Saikhan gave him a knowing look. Makei just sighed, and stood up, grabbing his hat and slipping the leather strap underneath his chin.

"Another alert?"

"Our esteemed councilman has requested my presence at city hall, seems the equalists attacked him and the avatar, and kidnapped her." he finished, noticing that Saikhan looked away briefly for a moment.

He dismissed it. "Time to be a 'hero' again." he muttered.

* * *

_The warehouse.  
_

Tai threw the wrapper away, landing it in the open mouth of a small bin next to him. Sensha was watching the area down the street, following the movements of a thug who had been walking back and forth across the open gate that granted access to the large, squat building behind it. It loomed over the area, and had it's back to the sea.

"Looks pretty easy to get into." Tai noted, prompting Sensha to glance back at him. She pursed her lips, and shrugged. "Maybe. We'll need to get closer to find out."

"So we trying to avoid a brawl?" he asked jokingly, she gave him a wry smirk. "Preferably before we find the crate. We need to be quiet about it though." Tai chuckled. "That. I can do." he adopted a serious look as he gazed at the fence surrounding the building. "I can get us both over the fence, save us from knocking out the guy at the front. Sensha nodded. "Sounds good." she looked at her watch. "It's about to hit 2:00 pm, head out now?"

"Yeah." they both walked across the street, crossing to the footpath that ran near the water, placing them on a straight line to the front gate of the warehouse area. The guard had his back to them, as he walked to the other end of the front side fence, the tuneless sounds of his whistling carrying over to them as they neared the bend of the road, now only twenty feet or so from where he was standing before.

Stacks of containers and crates were propped up against the other side of the fence, making it almost impossible to get over it. He scanned for a gap in the stacks, rewarded with a tiny little space in between containers nestled in the fence corner nearest to them. He stole a glance at the patrolling guard, checking that he was still walking slowly towards the other corner, and he nodded at Sensha.

They both walked briskly towards their side of the fence, with Tai standing just to the side of the gap, he placed his hand over the other, and held it out in front of him. Sensha took a few steps back, and looked at him. He concentrated on his open palm, forming a cushion of air over it, which tickled a bit. Confident that the mass was now stable, he nodded at her, she took a deep breath, and ran forwards, before leaping into the air, her foot now hovering over Tai's palm.

He thrust it up, and the mass mirrored his movement, and rushed upwards. Sensha yelped as she found herself taken over the fence and through the gap, now plummeting towards the hard ground. Tai acted quickly, creating a cushion of air for to catch her with. It slowed her down, and she rolled to take some of the impact. She sighed with relief and gave him a thumbs up, he gathered the air beneath his feet, and launched himself over as well, landing next to her gracefully.

They put their backs to the container and moved to look around the corner. They saw five rows of containers sitting astride from the ones that hugged the fence line, with a small one person wide space in between each of them. The path that separated them was wide enough for a truck to pass through, albeit with a bit of difficulty. It made a sharp ninety degree turn in front of their spot, and ran forwards, terminating into a wide open space with nothing in it at all. Tai gestured for Sensha to stay there, and ran across the path, slipping into the narrow squeeze in between the row nearest to them. He stopped immediately, as a shock of raven black hair greeted him. It sat on top of someone who had his back to him, and was leaning back on a chair, loudly snoring away.

Tai backed off, and checked the other side of the container, looking down the path that opened into the large space. Satisfied that no one was there, he looked back at Sensha, and gave her a thumbs up. She ran to his side and they both quietly made their way towards the other end of the container. Tai stopped as they reached the corner, and poked his head around. The area in front of the warehouse was mostly deserted, and devoid of any Agni Kai thugs, apart from that one guy who was sleeping in the chair, it looked as if there was nobody here at all. The symbol of a brightly colored fruit, painted onto the side of a grey truck, caught his eye. The vehicle was backed up against the loading dock of the warehouse, and it would be painfully easy to run over there and commandeer it, and drive out of there.

"I think that's it." he said quietly, Sensha followed his pointing finger, and nodded. Tai continued. "There's only one guy, and he's out of it, so it should be simple."

"You said that when you ran off after the equalists."

"That was different!"

She sighed, and rolled her eyes. "Let's go then."

He gave her what he thought was a reassuring grin, which actually came off as slightly manic. He looked to his left and right, and ran across the open space, with Sensha trailing closely behind him. A few heart pounding moments of running later, and they were standing in front of the brightly colored fruit, Tai immediately went over to the drivers door, and had a go at pulling it open. He was rewarded with a thud, as the door's lock was still engaged. Sighing and dropping his shoulders a bit, he trudged back to Sensha, who had her arms crossed as she smirked. "Looks like we need a key."

"Smart one aren't you?" she teased. She didn't wait for him to reply, instead looking at where the sleeping guard was. "I think he might have the key, you grab it off him, and I'll keep watch here."

He thought about replying to her teasing, partly to retain some dignity for himself, but instead he shrugged, and nodded, running towards the rows of containers. He pulled himself onto the top of a faded crimson surface, and slowly, as anything faster than a walk would alert the guy below, he made his way across the top of the rows, using air bending to touch down lightly as he leapt over each gap.

His feet touched down silently, on the surface of a deep blue container, and he walked to the other side of it, peering down at the top of the raven haired man's head. He saw his prize, a rusty metal ring hang off the man's belt, on which two keys dangled, sometimes jingling gently as they brushed against each other. Pursing his lips in concentration, he focused on making small, precise movements, as he tried to lift the ring off using the wind. Sadly it was still attached to the guard, being looped through his belt. Tai sighed in frustration, and dropped down behind the guard, leaning back slightly to avoid touching his hair, he bent down and slowly, and methodically, unhooked the ring from his belt. He fumbled, and the man snorted and screwed his eyes, and his nose exploded as he sneezed most violently. His eyes were open for a fraction of a second, and Tai froze. They closed again, and the man fell back into his peaceful rhythm. Tai let go of the breathe he was holding, and slipped the ring into a pocket on his coat. Having claimed his prize, he walked towards the fenceline, as he was too close to the guard to risk jumping onto the top of the noisy containers, he rounded the corner, and walked down the path, that led towards the gate. Confident that the other guard wouldn't see him, he turned and ran down the path leading towards the truck, with Sensha motioning for him to hurry up.

Just as Tai was in the middle of his dash across the open space, they both heard a crash and a surprised yelp. Both of them froze in their movements, and could only stare as they watched the confused guard stumble out into the open, and looking straight at them. He gave a yell of alarm, and Tai ran at him, using his arms to slam a gust of wind into the man's stomach, sending him crashing into the container nearby, unconscious from the impact. Tai turned and gave Sensha a relieved smile before opening his mouth in dark surprise, as he gaped at the armored thug who had just seen the entire thing.

"Sensha, up there!", the girl looked up just as the thug sent a blast of searing fire towards her, she quickly spun her arms, and deflected the projectile away from her and the truck, causing it to splash against the ground nearby. The thug slammed a button next to him, and the air was filled with a piercing shrill noise as the alarm blared. Tai glanced at the front gate, seeing the guard running towards them. He leapt on top of the containers, and held out his sword in both hands. He ran towards the other end of the container, and swept a massive gust of air at the advancing guard. He looked up too late, and could only throw a tiny ball of flame at the teen as the air itself slammed him into the container's wall with a ringing noise. He stumbled back from the impact, dazed as he tried to send a few more punches of fire at the boy.

Tai dropped down onto him, and kicked him in the back, sending him crashing into the container again, making the man slump to the ground with a sigh. He turned back to the truck and Sensha, and saw her deflecting a massive wave of fire coming from three fire benders surrounding her. She had a determined look in her eyes as she kept deflecting and redirecting the stream of fire, causing it to stream into the ground nearby, blackening the dirt quickly.

He ran towards the back of the truck, leaping on top of it's roof and running forwards, flanking the three thugs. As he leaped off the truck's cab, he scythed his foot downwards, and a vertical crescent shaped mass of air sliced towards the thug nearest to him. He didn't have enough time to react as the mass hit him full on, taking him off his feet and sliding him along the ground in front of the other two Agni's.

That gave Sensha an opening, as she pulled her arms in, and threw them out, directing a massive blast of flame towards the remaining thugs. They just barely caught it, and sent another gout of flame in return, forcing her to cut the stream and dodge to the side, stepping around the advancing orange blaze.

Tai approached from the right, launching quick bursts of wind and air to stumble and daze the two thugs, one of which was now facing him, the white three pronged mask gleaming softly in the firelight. He swept his arms towards the boy, calling forth a large arc of flame to sweep towards Tai from the side. He jumped into the air, clearing the deadly flame as he landed in front of the thug.

But the armored man was ready for him, and both hands shot out towards him, aiming for his chest. He twisted to the side, avoiding the hard hitting strike. He retaliated with a swift kick upwards, but missed, and the thug managed to grab his leg, and pulled, knocking Tai off balance and crashing into the thug. He felt a pair of arms wrap around his chest, and squeeze. He coughed and sputtered as he felt his ribs compress and bend under the immense strength of the bender, and his vision began to dim. He struggled, trying to get an opening to use his hand.

He briefly heard a cry of alarm elsewhere, and than one much closer as the armored figure fell back with a sigh, his back now scorched and blackened. Sensha stood there behind him. Tai untangle himself and stood up quickly, holding up the keys for Sensha to see.

"Can you drive?" he half coughed and sputtered.

* * *

**A/N**

**After the next chapter, I'll be taking a brief hiatus to catch up on some other stories I've been neglecting. But don't worry! I won't be putting this thing to bed until it's done!  
**

**As always, please criticize and review.  
**


	11. The Agni, and The Hostages

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU CAN DRIVE!"

They careened around the corner, speeding away from the warehouse as fast as they could, Tai yelped and shouted as he felt his cheek meet the rough embrace of the truck door, and deciding it wanted to give him a lot of pain, he was squished up against it, and tried in vain to push himself back into a position that didn't have him as a tangled ball of air bender limbs. Sensha glanced at him, her eyes narrowed from focusing on the road. "Sorry. Learners!"

"What!"

She laughed weakly. "Yep! Nearly at the end of them too! Grandma is so proud of me!"

"Well I'm not grandma! Get us there in one piece!" Tai grumbled. Sensha just giggled inanely and went back to focusing on the road, guiding the heavy truck down the empty side street.

"Hey Tai! Check the back." She ordered. Tai had untangled himself from the door, and turned around to open the small slide on the cab's back wall. As it slid back, it revealed the interior of the truck, filled with nothing but an absolutely gargantuan crate, the brightly colored symbol of a red apple emblazoned on all four of its sides. He nodded and closed the slide again, settling back into the seat, and just for safety, gripped the edges of his seat with the intent to live through the next few minutes.

Another heart pounding turn, as Sensha nearly lifted the truck off of two wheels by turning sharply into the next street, a few surprised people minding their own business ducked into open doorways for cover from the marauding vehicle. Sensha kept it on the road, and soon enough they saw the familiar profile of a bull crocodile smiling at them from a wooden slab, painted in a uniform dark red.

"Sensha, over there." Tai pointed to the sign, and she nodded, decelerating to take the next turn at a much gentler pace, causing Tai to sigh with relief. They coasted down the road, and Sensha frowned.

"It won't fit, we'll have to get out and bring it in ourselves."

Tai nodded, just glad to be out of the death defying doombox. He hopped out, and Sensha backed the truck up against the open mouth of the alley, leaving just enough space for them to squeeze in through. Tai walked around to the back of the truck and found the double doors had no lock on them. He pulled, and they swung open, revealing the intact crate, and even better, a trolley they could use to get it over to the kids.

He clambered inside, and noticed a few flat pieces of metal that were attached to the lip of the truck's back. He pulled at them, and they flipped upwards and out of the truck, forming a ramp from which they could get the trolley down with. Sensha joined him, as they guided the trolley in front of the box. Satisfied that it wouldn't move under its own weight, they edged around it, and with a great deal of effort, managed to get the box onto the trolley's waiting tray.

"Ready?" Sensha said. Tai nodded, and grabbed hold of the trolley's handle bar. She joined him, and with a grunt Tai pulled, causing the wheels the screech slightly as they spun faster than they should have, and the great weight sitting on the tray lent momentum to the trolley's descent down the ramp. Tai flung a hand back and quickly blasted a stream of wind at the wall behind him, trying to slow down the runaway cart. He leant to the right, trying to trap the corner of the trolley on the edge of the wall, and hopefully slow it down. His gambit worked, and he was bumped around as it came to a standstill. Sensha ran to him, concern evident.

"Are you alright?"

"Fine. Come on, we're near the bridge." The sound of running water carried to them, as they lugged the heavy trolley around the corner. They moved slowly, being careful not to shake or disturb their cargo, they rolled it across the bridge gingerly, almost approaching the maximum flying velocity of a moth-snail. The front wheels touched down on the loose dirt in front of the narrow passage, telling them that they were now in plain view of Skoochy's hideout.

Oddly enough, it was deserted. Not just that, the air was strangely warm as well, glancing worryingly at Sensha, Tai pushed it through the passage, and parked it in the central dip. The atmosphere of the area screamed trap.

Tai backed away from the cart, looking all around him at the dark maws of the pipes, his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Something's up." He whispered to Sensha, she stood her ground next to him, and raised her hands up, ready to launch an attack in a moment's notice. Tai unhooked his scabbard from his back, and hefted it in both hands, as they moved forwards past the cart, he kept a firm grip on it, in anticipation of what he was _sure_, was going to come.

A child's cry for help alerted them both, and all pretense of caution was thrown to the wind. They ran out of the area, through a passage nearby which held the noises of rumbling engines and shouting voices, with the cries of several children underlying the entire scene.

They kept going, bursting into a dark little side street, where tall buildings loomed on every side. The side of a massive truck zoomed past them, as it and a second one made their escape from the area.

"No!" Tai yelled, he ran forwards, reaching the end of the side street he skidded a little as he turned onto the road, and saw the taillights of both trucks taunt him as they rounded a corner, and disappeared from sight. He slammed his fist against the wall in frustration, seething with anger. He whipped around, startling Sensha. "Come on!", he didn't wait for her, and charged towards the end of the dark span, the buildings near the entrance to the side street were significantly lower than the taller ones behind them, and the sun let it's radiance shine down, creating a stark contrast that signaled where the little street ended and it's bigger brother began. Groups of bystanders were whispering and gawking in confusion, and were confused even further to find a angry air bender running down the middle of the street, with a girl with short, black hair following as closely as she could.

His thoughts were tearing themselves apart. The kids! His more compassionate side roared, drowning out any other perspectives, suddenly it shrank into the background. No! The information! His pragmatic side argued.

He didn't realize that his feet had stopped moving, and he was now standing there in the center of the road, staring at a empty corner. A hand fell on his shoulder, and Sensha was looking at him with worry. "We'll get them all back."

Tai's hands shook with anger and helplessness at their situation. What could he do now? Sensha answered for him. "Hey don't worry. We can grab a few disguises to get past the guards, rescue the kids, and get them back here, than we can get the information from Skoochy, and be on our way."

He didn't answer, instead falling into a dark silence.

"Tai!", a blur of orange was fast approaching him, from the corner the trucks disappeared around. It grumbled, and suddenly jumped up, and created a spherical mass of constantly spinning air that it used like a seat, and zoomed towards him.

"Jinora?" he shook himself, getting out of his thoughts, and saw the frowning ten year old set back down on the ground in front of him. Now he was curious. "What are you doing here?", she crossed her arms, looking at him the same way Tenzin did when he did something stupid. "I don't stay on the island all day Tai."

"S-sorry." he sighed as he stared at the empty corner behind her. Than he hit upon an idea. "Did you see those trucks that passed by?" Jinora crossed her arms, her frown deepening. "Yes. Skoochy's in one of them."

"Uh...how do you know Skoochy?" Tai asked. The girl didn't redden as he expected, but she did turn her face into a neutral mask. "Met him one time." she said dismissively, waving away his question as a nuisance.

"Uh huh." he glanced at Sensha's perplexed face, than back at Jinora. "Oh Jinora. Sensha." he grinned uneasily at Sensha, who rolled her eyes at him, and smiled at Jinora. "Nice to meet you.", the ten year old smiled as well. "You too."

Sensha turned to Tai, crossing her arms. "Well? What's the plan genius?"

"We grab some uniforms, sneak in, bust them out. Simple." he then shrugged, which only deepened Sensha's sense of foreboding about his plans.

Suddenly Jinora poked her hand up, raising it unwaveringly in the air, so that it almost reached Tai's eye level. "I'll be a hostage."

Tai, accustomed to good ideas coming from the little girl, was very, very, confused. "Uh, run that by me again?"

"Take me in with you, and tell them I'm a kid who escaped from the truck."

The boy was suddenly taken away from the street, and was now standing in front of Tenzin, his face red with anger as he launched Tai off the cliff nearby.

"No way."

"Won't work otherwise."

Sensha glanced at the girl worryingly, before addressing Tai. "I hate to say it, but she's right Tai."

It didn't feel right to him, but than again the stakes were high, and she was a trained air bender, who, he hated to say it, was most likely more skilled than he was at the art. He sighed, and ran a hand down his face in annoyance. "Fine." he relented, Jinora nodded determinedly. "We'd better go then." Sensha said.

He led the way, stalking towards the corner of the street. He took the footpath that wound around it, leading onto a road sparsely littered with satomobiles and, on occasion, police vehicles. He saw that both footpaths running along it's length were almost completely covered by a extremely varied number of canvas covers, which billowed gently up and down as the wind blew over and below them, sometimes ruffling the hair of the buyers and stall owners underneath their colorful shade. Underneath a vibrant purple stretch of canvas, straight in front of Tai, two fire benders were menacing the owner of the stall that dominated the purple toned space. It's owner cowered behind it's wooden counter, yelping each time a small blast of fire was blown over the top. The two thugs laughed cruelly, with the taller of the two speaking loudly and clearly, his voice carrying down to Tai, Sensha and Jinora.

"Give it up, Feng! Payment's due!"

"I-I don't have enough to pay you with..."

"Not good enough!" the tall man reached over the counter, and grabbed the roughly spun fabric of the old man's faded yellow shirt, lifting him up and bringing him close, and depriving him of any cover.

Tai went to step forward, but was beaten to it by Jinora, who walked up to the two with a stormy look in her eyes. The shorter of the two leaned forward, and noticed her advance. He laughed and reached to tap his friend on the shoulder, who looked where he was looking at, and sneered.

"What do you want little gir-" he started, before Jinora smiled and swept her arms to the right, summoning a strong gust of wind to carry them off of their feet, and throwing them into the darkness of the alley nearby. Tai smiled darkly, and stalked in after them, and made a gesture with his arms, slamming both of them against the wall, and leaving them pinned there, their feet touching nothing but air.

Sensha followed him, flashing the relieved shopkeeper a smile as she wreathed her hand in a coat of flame, and pointed towards the two thugs, who struggled uselessly in their helpless position.

Tai narrowed his eyes. "Your headquarters. Where?" they answered him with a whimper, and Tai growled in frustration, he flexed his arm a bit, causing them to be pressed even further against the wall, and their breathing became a little more labored as oxygen began to slow it's flow down their throats. Their eyes were wide open, and terrified of the dark figure who held them at his mercy.

"Where!" he bellowed. The taller of the two cried out in terror, causing him to increase the pressure _just a little_. "I WON'T ASK AGAIN, TELL ME OR I-"

"Tai!" Sensha warned.

He barely registered her outrage. Finally one of them uttered something more structured than a whimper. "T-t-two blocks away-" the pressure increased again, and his veins began to bulge, standing in sharp relief against his pale skin. "-Look for the crimson dragon!" he began to blubber, and made a choking noise as the pressure got to him and his partner.

Tai's arm was slapped down by Sensha, who glare at him with astounding furiosity. The crushing air released them, and they fell to the ground, scrambling deeper into the alley before the terrifying force could take hold of them again.

"WHAT WAS THAT!" She bellowed. Jinora glanced worrying at the absolutely dark look manifesting on Tai's features as he crossed his arms, and looked at the wall in front, unblinking.

"Crimson dragon." he pushed past Sensha and headed past the shopkeeper, who backed away from him instinctively as he passed the stall, and walked to the end of the street, before turning left, going across the road and disappearing from Jinora and Sensha's sight. She growled in frustration at the boy's actions, and looked down at Jinora.

"Why is he acting like that?" she wasn't really looking for a reply from the ten year old, more or less just asking out loud.

"Maybe Korra disappearing is getting to him." Jinora stated quietly.

Sensha frowned. "Doesn't excuse him." she walked off after him, before noticing the scared shopkeeper. "Sorry. About that."

"That boy is trouble." he said shakily, his hands still wobbling.

All Sensha could do was give him a reassuring smile, and walked off after him, with Jinora following closely behind. They followed the direction Tai had taken, and just as they rounded the corner, heard an frustrated sigh from the alley nearby. They looked around the corner, and there he was, leaning against the wall, trying to avoid the accusing looks Sensha regarded him with.

They all stood there silently, with Tai fixing the wall in front of him with a long stare. Sensha crossed her arms, with Jinora mimicking her, and they both watched him, waiting for an explanation.

"Sorry." he mumbled.

Sensha's eyes softened. "You could have hurt those two men back there.", he laughed bitterly. "I think I was aiming to do more than hurt those two.", she reached a hand forward, touching him lightly on the shoulder. "What's wrong?"

He sighed, giving her a apologetic look. "Korra's still lost out there, and all I have to show in finding her is that huge crate of food!" he threw up his arms in frustration, and Sensha crossed her arms at his display.

"Tai, so far, we've only been looking for two hours, at the most, all things considered, we're doing great." she reasoned with him, he felt his mood brighten slightly, as he considered her points. "Yeah...maybe."

She smiled at him. "And once we find out where the officers are as well, we can get Asami, and Mako, and Bolin released!" as she uttered the names of the two brothers, he saw that fan girl glint in her eyes again. He was silent for a moment, before nodding. "Well, since I screwed up our plan, what do we do now?"

"We find a back entrance, with _two _air benders, we should find a way in, it'll be a breeze." she stopped for a moment, realizing the poor wording. Jinora chuckled, and Tai smiled earnestly.

"After you, _flame-o_." he remarked. Sensha made a ha-ha face, while Jinora giggled. She stepped to the side, giving Sensha room to walk further into the alley, going a fair distance before stopping and beckoning for them to follow. Tai rolled his eyes and Jinora reciprocated, as they both moved towards her, light on their feet. With all of them now gathered at the corner, Tai peered around it, looking at a short stretch that ended at a sturdy looking wall, that was at least five times his height. They all ran towards it, taking advantage of the idea that being that the Agni's had such an impressive wall blocking access, no one would be needed to guard it.

They were proved right when the three of them landed on the other side of the wall without any hassle, and took cover in a open shed to their right. Tai saw a small window nearby, with shutters obscuring what lay outside from view. Tai walked over to it, and slowly drew them back up, gradually revealing a dark and smog filled area crammed with twisted wrecks and rusted little sheds, much like the one they now stood in. A large structure overshadowed the whole display, dominating and imposing from it's position on the other side of the scrap field. From where he was looking from, it looked like it was cobbled together from the remains of those old empire class battleships back in the waning days of the Hundred Year War. his theory was confirmed when Jinora whispered something to him, staring at some kind of large brass sculpture on the building's right side.

"Wow...their headquarters is a empire class battleship! Back from the Hundred Year War when grandpa Aang was still-"

"Jinora. I think we get it." Tai quietened her, and she clamped her mouth shut, still gaping at the massive bronze sculpture, probably entranced with how the light shone off the gleaming surface. He noticed that there was some kind of dark metal object set into it.

"I think that's their front door." Tai said. Sensha arched an eyebrow at him, "Really?", while Jinora seemed to gawk even more at the structure.

He looked around the dark scrapyard in front of them, frowning when he couldn't see anyone at all. He turned back to the others. "That's odd. I don't think there's anyone outside." he shrugged, "Looks like we have a clear shot through." he went to move back outside when Sensha stopped him. "We'll do it together. I know what happens when you run off alone." she smirked, and Tai briefly felt a stab of pain in his ribs, as he remembered the encounter with Tarrin.

"Don't remind me.", he nodded, and waited for the other two to run out first before following them, bringing up the rear. They moved cautiously, moving from wreck to wreck as they traversed the scrap yard, slowly making their way to the other side. The massive twisted structure had floodlights perched haphazardly over it, most likely just welded to where they needed the light. While the sea of wrecks they passed through was dark and dimly lit, as soon as they broke cover to run across to the front door, they would exposed and lit up instantly. Tai preferred that they not get spotted until they were inside, or even better, speeding away in a truck with the kids.

As soon as they passed a rusted out cart, the flood lights on the building practically blinded them with their brilliance, forcing them to cover their eyes as they made their way across the light washed cement. Sensha frowned however, and tapped Tai on the shoulder as the three of them entered the shadow of a walkway above them, affixed to the outside of the structure.

"There's no way in from this side." she hissed. Tai grumbled in frustration, realising her point. "We don't have time to check the other sides, we'll have to go through the brass mouth thingie.", Jinora looked up at them, with a small amount of worry. Sensha sighed, and nodded her assent. The three of them made their way down the building's side together, keeping close to the wall to keep the advantage of the dark strip that kept them semi invisible. They rounded the corner, and were now facing the brass mouth, which was absolutely massive up close. Tai saw a container nearby, sitting next to the entrance, and quickly ran to it, peering around the side.

No one. He frowned, but still beckoned for Jinora and Sensha to come over to him. Cautiously they did so, and they ran to the door at the same time, with Tai hoisting it open for the others to duck through. He stepped through, letting it close after him, stopping for a moment, he took the glider from his back, and wedged it under the door, keeping it from fully closing up, and letting anyone with half a brain the opportunity to trap them within.

A dark and dust filled hallway yawned in front of them, running for a long stretch before terminating into a single massive room, there was a pervasive orange glow coming from it, limiting their view of what was inside. They heard the crying of children, and they didn't even need to guess.

Tai and Sensha ran forward first, with Jinora quietly keeping to the side of the hallway, well aware of what was going to be inside. They burst out through the orange glow, wrinkling their noses at the smell of oil and grime that filled the wide open hall.

In the ships heyday, it would have been the loading bay for the massive smooth bores guns that made the class so iconic and pivotal, the big room was rectangular in shape, with a balcony running around it's sides, and making up the second level. Their level held nothing but a massive group of children sitting together in the empty space, with their leader, a twelve year old with a old conductor hat, having a flash of recognition on his face as he saw the three of them, and his eyes widened in surprise as he saw Jinora with them. Shaking his surprise away, he shouted a warning at them.

"It's Oranis!"

Before Tai and Sensha could respond, a piercing, shrill laugh reverberated off the rusted metal walls, and suddenly a group of figures now stood on the balcony, surrounding from all sides. A majority wore sleeveless shirts, showing off their bulging muscles and pale skin, while others wore tunics or great coats with fiery emblems emblazoned on their shoulders.

The group that occupied the balcony they were facing towards, wore full armor, and antique helmets from the old fire nation army, they looked imposing, felt imposing, and their leader, a tall, thin woman with high cheekbones and a gaunt face, regarded them with cruel, black eyes. She had a sneer on her as she snapped her fingers, and all the Agni Kai thugs yelled, firing massive streams of fire down towards the children, combining into a massive wall of fire that descended upon them, utterly implacable in it's blazing fury.

* * *

_Police Headquarters._

Bolin rocked back and forth, with his legs tucked in close, and his eyes wondering the small, dank cell, that he and Mako had called home for the last day or so. His brother was laying down on the cot opposite from him, his arms resting behind his head as he silently stared up at the ceiling, his chest moving up and down in a steady rhythm.

"Bo."

"Yeah Mako?"

"Anything else to think of?", Mako's amber eyes flashed towards him for, waiting for an answer. Bolin sighed. "My vast intellect works methodically I'm afraid."

"Uh huh."

"What? It does."

"Suuurrre."

"Please, I came up with the plans in the pro bending tournament!"

"Yeah, but you need skilled people to do them." he lifted his hand upwards, and his index dropped towards himself. "Me. And Korra."

"Korra..." Bolin sighed again. Mako's eyes softened, and he glanced at Bolin. "She's fine, Bolin."

"Yeah I know, but..." he shook the thought away, sure that she was just waiting for them on the island, bored as usual. The island. His thoughts turned to Tai, and suddenly he was very anxious to get to freedom. Has a dark past, wicked moves, looks like a pretty-boy, why wouldn't she...

No way! He's out of her league man! And you aren't! Bolin perked up. Hey! Thanks brain!

His happy thoughts were derailed by a sharp clang on the door, as if on command the slide opened, and the hard steel eyes of one of the metal benders regarded them both, presumably the same way a owl-hawk would regard the poodle-rats that tried to steal it's food.

Mako barely looked over, still finding something to examine on the ceiling. The eyes swung towards Bolin, and he felt like shrinking down a little to hide himself, but he was a man, and his gaze didn't flinch, although his eyebrow did twitch from the intensity.

"You first." the slide was shut again, than they heard a soft grind as the metal of the door tried to shove it's immovable doorframe out of the way as it swung open, revealing a man dressed in dark blue metal bender armor. Bolin absently noted how shiny his bald head was, than saw his eyes, which were boring straight into his, and he gulped. He stood up sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck as he walked towards the open door. The man stepped aside, with a look that could kill the entire world, impressive seeing as it was an impassive one.

He avoided the man's steely grey eyes as he glanced around the dimly lit metal hallway, with both walls lined with cells just like their own. He felt the man's rough hand push him along, and he complied with the unspoken message, walking forwards, he quickly glanced behind him, seeing a pair of concerned yellow eyes looking back at him, just before a guard walked up to the door and pushed it, closing him off from his brother.

"Up the stairs, turn right."

He nodded, and took the stairs as cautiously as he could, trying not to provoke the man who had him at his mercy. His foot touched down at the top of the stairway, and he immediately did a sharp turn to the right, going down the hallway, passing several offices and interview rooms. The man pointed to a open door nearby, and he walked through it, stepping into one of those very same rooms.

It was sparsely furnished for an office he thought, as it only contained one table and a very uncomfortable looking chair...

Ohhhhhh...

He winced slightly as the door slammed shut behind him, with nowhere else to go, he sat in the chair, staring straight ahead, trying not to blink no matter what.

"That was a good game you guy's played, back at the finals."

He resisted the urge to raise his eyebrow questioningly, knowing how this thing went down. He heard it all the time in 'Crafty Ching and the underbelly'.

He also knew that staying silent was pretty much the worst thing to do. He cleared his throat uneasily. "Uh...yeah - sure was." he felt his skin prickle, as he began to fluster.

"Oh don't be so uptight, Bolin. I'm not here to hurt you." the man reassured him with a slight undertone of mockery.

"I know that, why wouldn't I know that?" he quickly said.

"I'm just concerned about one of your friends, who's gone missing."

Bolin pegged on immediately, and sighed, bowing his head, taking solace in the reflective surface of the bare table. "Yeah...goes double for me."

The voice stopped for a moment, and than adopted a gentler tone. A rugged hand presented itself in front of him. "Commander Makei."

"Bolin. You - already know that - though."

The man stomped his foot, and a chair shaped mass rose out of the floor, facing towards Bolin. He sat down, and regarded Bolin. "When did you last see her?"

"Last night, trying to stop that creep from hurting innocent people."

Makei chuckled. "I assume by 'creep', you're referring to our esteemed councilman Tarrlok?"

"Yep. He sent her flowers once." Bolin stated. Makei resisted the urge to laugh, and felt rather uneasy about the implications. Outwardly, his face was a mask. "No idea where she would have gone?"

"That was the last I saw of her before he arrested the three of us." he looked up with an haggard sheen to his eyes. "I hope she's okay."

Makei sighed, and, looking over at the officer standing outside, gestured to him, the man nodded and walked away, towards the stairs that led towards the cells.

"Bolin, you'll be going back to your cell for now, I'll be talking to your brother and ms Sato next.", the boy nodded somberly, and his eyes had lost some of their lustre. He stared down at the table, uttering not a single word.

Makei waited, and eventually, the officer came back, his older brother in tow. Mako's eyes were instantly drawn to Bolin, and he practically growled. "What did you do?", he narrowed his eyes as he glared at the commander. The officer led him into the room, and guided Bolin out of there, and back towards their cell.

Makei pointed at the empty chair, and reluctantly, Mako sat in it, crossing his arms unhelpfully. The commander sighed at his display, wondering how the two of them were ever related.

The young man broke the silence first. "What did you do to him?" he spat out accusingly.

"We just talked. That's all."

"Talked? I better not oblige you then." Mako remarked.

Makei's eyebrow twitched of it's own volition, and he was reminded of his infamous short fuse with difficult people, particularly punks and idiots, like the young man was now lowering himself to, purely out of spite.

He said his next sentence in a dangerously low tone. "I suggest you quiet up _boy_.", talking down to him was a cheap tactic, and not one he ever liked doing, but it got his attention, and he saw Mako's eyes flare in anger.

"I'm _eighteen_."

"You grow up pretty slowly then." Makei shook his head, realising he was getting drawn into a useless argument. "Enough of this. When did you last see the Avatar?"

The boy huffed. "Last night. Right before your goons arrested us for helping _out_."

"Save it. Where could she have gone to?"

Mako waved his arm derisively. "Try the south pole."

"This isn't getting anywhere.", the boy snorted. "What gave you that clue?" he ignored him, instead watching the officer coming through the door, with Asami in tow. She perked up when she saw Mako, and he immediately bit his tongue, and softened his expression.

"Take him back to his cell." he said to the guard, the man saluted and moved past Asami, waiting for Mako to stand up. The young man glared at the both of them, and violently shook off the man's guiding hand as he walked out of the room. The young daughter of the city's richest villain sat down, and looked around the room, clearly uneasy with her current situation.

Makei stuck out his hand, extending it across the table. "Ms Sato? Commander Makei." he adopted a formal approach, aiming to appeal to her more...structured...upbringing.

"Um, hello. Commander. I'm fine with Asami though.", she nodded, and gave him a uneasy smile. He chuckled. "Thank the spirits, I hate formality."

"Tell me about it." she agreed. Having been to a unhealthy amount of stuffy parties, usually thrown by her father for his sponsors. Her eyes narrowed briefly as she remembered him, she quickly shook it off, and waited for the commander to ask his questions.

"Where did you last see the Avatar?"

"Last night, we were with Korra at the non bender protest. That's the last I saw of her." she explained, Makei nodded. "That does fit with what the brothers told me. Do you know where she could be?"

"If I know her, she'd most definitely have gone straight to trying to help us. Maybe she went to see an official?" she sighed, and he knew that the three of them wouldn't be able to help the search.

"Okay. That's all I needed to know." he inclined his head. "Thank you, Asami." he stood up, and opened the door, gesturing for her to go through, she smiled earnestly at him, and they left the room, as he walked her back to her cell.


	12. Escape, and The Lead

Tai took his scabbard from his back, and twirled it around himself, the billowing wall of fire had almost reached down to the top of his head, when a arresting gale split it in two, and guided it in a cascade that streamed harmlessly to the sides, there wasn't much cool air to work with, and Tai found it increasing difficulty to keep his shield spinning, sweat ran down his forehead, and some of it got into his eyes, forcing him to blink furiously as he repelled the ferocious onslaught. Sensha backed him up, and, with swirling movements and graceful twirls, she kept the floor and air inside their barrier from heating up, preventing their safe haven from turning into a oven that would cook all of them. Jinora helped as best she could, keeping the air circulating around them, making sure it wouldn't be used up by the hungry flames outside.

The onslaught died down, leaving only superheated air to remain. Some of the children began to show signs of overheating, and they needed to get them out of here quickly. Ignoring his rapidly deadening arms, he slowly moved back towards the open hallway, keeping both eyes on the shimmering figures of Oranis and her fire benders. Skoochy realized his plan, and started shouting and gesturing to the open hallway, some of the older children in the group stood up with him, and shepherded the kids towards their escape route.

Sensha's movements began to grow haggard, and Tai felt his coat stick to his skin as sweat coated his body. He had an overwhelming urge to close his eyes, but fought against it, his vision fluttering as he kept the air spinning as best he could. He took a chance, and glanced behind him, seeing that at least half the kids were safely in the hallway, and quickly approaching the metal door. Skoochy and Jinora were the last to move, and were almost out of the wide room, leaving only Sensha and Tai, and four pissed off thugs plus their leader.

Oranis growled as she watched her quarry escape, and she leapt off the balcony, landing in front of the two rapidly tiring teens, with a deadly snarl on her features. Sensha glanced at Tai, who was still busy keeping the air cool around them, he wasn't able to concentrate on where he was going, and felt surprise when his back hit the metal wall near the doorway. Finally he relented, and his shield fell away, having done it's purpose.

Sensha was closer to the middle of the room, and was the Agni Kai leader's first target. The older woman crashed into the girl, winding her as they fell to the floor in a rough tumble, one attacking viciously with fire bending, the other deflecting and blocking. Sensha won out, and managed to curl her legs underneath Oranis's stomach, the bottom of her boots aimed at her underbelly, they flew forwards, and the vicious woman was thrown off of her, and slamming into the wall nearby.

Confident that she had it under control, Tai ran forward, turning his attention to the thugs on the balconies, who were preparing another onslaught of fire. He gathered the air beneath his feet, and bent his knees, he released the surging mass, and he was flung into the warm air that hung above, aiming to land on one of the balconies. Numerous blasts of flame whipped past him as he began to descend, some of them too close for comfort. He fired a few blasts of his own, although of a weaker intensity than the thug's. One of them, who was encased in antique fire nation armor, was now directly beneath him. He touched down next to him, and immediately swept his leg out, catching the fire bender in his leg, he cried out, and fell over the edge to the floor a short distance below, landing in a crumpled heap.

He didn't have time to second guess the man's condition, as a massive wave of fire was directed at him from the opposite side, emanating from the fast and powerful movements of two thugs. He dived out of it's path, making his way to that side, another one stood in his way, who yelled and threw several balls and streams of flame at him, going by quantity to try and catch him by surprise. He merely dropped to the floor, and flung his arm behind him, and shunted the air back, causing him to slide forwards underneath the thug's gaze. He sprang up and slammed his scabbard into the man's back, causing him to arch in pain, his hands scrabbling as they probed the blow. He didn't wait around, and danced back, before sweeping a gust of air at him, flinging him into a thick support column nearby, which protested with a resounding thud as the man slid down it's surface to the floor, unconscious.

The next one was ready for him, and spun his arms and legs, creating swirling arcs of flame that billowed towards Tai, he dodged to the side, and was knocked back by a horizontal sweep of fire, he growled, and ran forward, hopping over another one before blasting the flames away with a massive surge of wind, clearing the space between him and his target of any fire. The man showed surprise on his pudgy features, and ran back from him, but Tai was faster and his boot crashed into the side of the man's head, leaving him to crumple to the floor, he focused on the last two benders.

They were both prepared, and were already running towards him, covering each other with well timed arcs and sweeps of flame, one of them wielded a heavy and jagged sword, and as the burly figure bared down on him, it's surface caught alight with orange fire, and traced glowing arcs through the air as it came closer and closer to him.

His own sword seemed to come out it's scabbard of it's own volition, and Tai met the heavy blade head on, and quickly disengaged as it overwhelmed his lighter weapon. The fire covered blade swept down, towards his feet, and he hopped over it, twisting around to deliver a weak slash to deter the large man. His attention was torn away for a moment, as a large ball of fire surged towards him. He pushed at the air above him, and he dropped like a rock to the floor, the glint from the advancing fire dancing in his eyes. The jagged edge appeared again, surging down towards his face. Tai rolled out of the way, and it bit into the floor in a spark strewn bite, it's owner growled and raged as it became stuck, the teen pressed his opportunity, and blasted a full mass of air at the man's bent over form, it bowled into him, and sent him sprawling, putting the would be swordsman out of commission.

A snaking tendril of blaze whipped towards his side, leaving scorch marks on his coat as it met the tough fibers. It wrapped around his waist, and he was spun towards the last thug, who had a look of savage delight on his gaunt face. Once he was mere inches away from the repulsive man, he acted, and sunk his fist into the man's nose, causing him to cry out in pain and fall to the floor, stunned. Tai quickly stomped on him, knocking the man out of his misery. And briefly looked around himself, taking in the twitching and groaning bodies on the ground, and allowed himself a grin, before turning his attention to the floor below, his view obscured by great gouts of flame surging back and forth.

He sheathed his blade, and hooked the scabbard into it's resting place, and took a few steps back, keeping his arms fully extended from his body. He breathed deeply, closing his eyes for a moment...they flashed open, with a sheen of focus and determination, and he sprinted forwards, leaping into the warm air that hung between the balconies, he broke into a spin as he descended, going faster and faster, causing the air around him to swirl as well, mimicking his body's motions. It collected into a gasesous sheath that covered the boy as he met the flames head on.

The sea of fire surged upwards, as if in anticapation of a victim, and was repulsed violently, as the air the boy gathered spun outwards, clearing the space around him, and giving him a good view of the floor, and it's two stunned occupants, below. Sensha's mouth gaped open, while Oranis had a customary snarl on her features, and her right eye twitched as she saw him drop like a missile towards her. She vainly attempted a strike, throwing as much fire at him as possible, before he slammed into her, and sent her spinning into a wall with a dull thud. Tai stumbled as he took a few steps towards Sensha, before she ran forward and threw him to the floor, as a blast of fire encapsulated her, she deflected it at the last moment, and quickly ran towards the source of the flames, a rage filled Oranis, she stalked towards them, her eyes swinging from one to the other, a look of incomprehensible depravity had settled in, and she roared as she ran towards Sensha, both hands wreathed in flames and extended towards her.

Sensha dove to the side and twisted around to face the unpredictable woman, waiting for another move from her. The Agni Kai leader obliged, and flung both arms towards her, sweeping a massive, burning slice of fire in her direction. As Sensha began a spin to counteract the advancing blaze, Oranis ran towards her side, launching smaller and more numerous punches and kicks, dividing her attention. Tai leapt in at this point, and took his scabbard in both hands, sweeping a gust of air that sliced into the advancing blaze, knocking it off course and giving Sensha a breather for a second. Tai ran to her side, and they both faced Oranis down, exhaustion beginning to set in.

The woman laughed, her shrill voice bouncing off the metal walls of the room. "You and those brats won't make it out of here alive!"

Tai was breathing hard, but managed a smirk on his features. "Try us. We beat you last time.", being reminded of her failures seemed to set her off, as she screamed and ran towards the both of them. Sensha ran to meet her, and she ducked under a clumsy right hook from the woman, her own strikes fast and light as her fingers jabbed into the woman's body, Oranis laughed them off, and a ball of flame appeared in her palm, suddenly it fizzled out, and she grabbed her arm in pain. Sensha grabbed her and sent her spinning into the wall nearby, knocking her to the ground.

She glanced at Tai. "Let's go."

Tai nodded, his skin prickling as he noted how similar Sensha's hits were to chi blockers. Shaking his disquiet away, he ran after her, footsteps ringing loudly on the metal floor. The group of children disappeared outside as he approached the exit, following them. He ran after them, bursting out of the bronze sculptures maw into the early morning. The cold air came as a bit of a shock to him, as he followed them back into the scrapyard, catching glimpse of dirt encrusted hats and the dirty glean of a conductor badge. Finally they all stopped at the shed for a moment, as the children catched their breath, Skoochy leaned against the wall, watching Tai approach as Sensha went over to Jinora.

He noticed the kid's slightly shaking frame, as he looked down at him.

"Skoochy. You alright?"

"'Course I am." he lied.

"I'm sorry we couldn't get back there in time."

"Nah it's fine. Did you get the food?" as he said this, Skoochy looked at the group of children nearby, his hard eyes slowly softening.

Tai nodded. "Yeah. We did."

The kid took his hat, and sighed in relief, briefly letting down his guard, if only for a moment. "Thanks windy."

Tai smiled tightly, but let it go, deciding the kid had enough go wrong for one night. "No problem."

"How'd you find us?"

"We got there just as the trucks were driving away, and than we ran into..." he pointed at Jinora, who was still a bit shaky, which Sensha was trying to fix. Skoochy nodded. "Is Jinora okay?" he asked.

"If I didn't know better..."

"You don't, windy." Skoochy stated, crossing his arms. There was a ghost of a smirk on his lips.

"Worth a shot." he bent down to the kid's level. "All things considered, you should probably move places."

"'Course, _wh_y _didn't I think of that very thing_?" Tai rose back up. He sure was snarky. He turned away from the boy, moving towards Sensha and Jinora.  
The ten year old gave him a shaky smile.

"Jinora..."

"I'm alright!" she said, just a bit too quickly. Tai rolled his eyes noticeably, making sure the girl knew his stance. "It's not everyday you do something like that. But you did great.", she perked up a little, her smile a little more easy this time.

Sensha glanced at him. "When are we going to ask Skoochy?"

"Once we get them back to their hideout. We can't stay here forever." he decided. He looked over at Skoochy. "Let's get back there." the kid nodded, and walked over to the other children, he stopped to talk to a few of them, and his words seemed to calm them down. As he did this Tai, Sensha and Jinora moved outside, to figure out a way to get themselves plus twelve kids up the high wall nearby. Tai flexed his arms, sighing as he prepared himself for some heavy lifting. Jinora walked to his side, watching him, and casting furtive glances at their obstacle. "I won't be able to lift them over." she stated.

Tai nodded. "I'll have to do it, one at a time." he sighed and rubbed his hands together, and glanced at her. "Tell them.", she gave him a disapproving look. "Please." he added. The ten year old rolled her eyes and walked off, heading towards the group of children outside the shed. He heard her exchange a few quiet words with Skoochy, and he turned towards his gang, and ushered them over to Tai, the smaller kids came first, some of them still shaking as they formed a a loose single line behind him, watching him expectantly.

The first one, a little girl with brown pigtails, who was clutching onto a ragged teddy bear with both hands, he bent down to her level, and opened his arms, she backed off a little, and Sensha moved to her side, whispering a few encouraging words in her ear. "Hey, don't worry. He's just going to get everybody over the wall." the little girl glanced at her, and nodded, perking up a little. She was unconvinced, so Sensha moved towards Tai. "I'll show you by going over first."

She wrapped her arms around his waist, and nodded to him. He focused on the moving eddies around his feet, coiling them into a spring like mass, he released the 'spring', and all of the unleashed pressure carried them up and over the wall, some of the children expressed cries of wonder and awe, while others remained silent, settling for watching the display.

As the concrete of the alley rushed up to meet them, and possibly keep them, Tai refocused, and forced the air beneath their feet to become akin to a spring cushion, slowing their descent and letting them land softly. He dropped Sensha off, and she waited nearby, as he jumped back over, appearing back in front of the children. He was dizzy for a moment, as the injuries from the fight in the building began to make themselves known again. He shook it off, and gestured for the little girl to come forward.

She moved towards him cautiously.

"Hey. Hold on as tight as you can.", the child nodded, and allowed him to hold her in his arms, the dark material of his coat almost obscuring her small frame from view. "Ready?" he said. He saw the top of her head nod a little. He stood up straight, and focused on the air beneath his feet, the ground dropped away, and he thought he heard a squeak of surprise, Sensha was waiting on the other side, and as soon as they touched down, the girl went to her. He leapt back over, and was ready for another one when Jinora walked up to him.

"I can lift the next few Tai, take a breather." she looked at him critically, and he realized how hard he was breathing. He nodded, and wordlessly moved off to the side. Some of the kids, particularly the youngest of the group, went to her a bit more readily than with him, self-consciously, he tugged his blackened leather sheath, revealing the gleaming white metal of his sword. Yeah, he saw why they would.

The group of children shrunk steadily, while Skoochy kept watching the darkened scrapyard, making sure they wouldn't be followed. Soon enough only the three oldest children were left. He looked over, and noticed Jinora was swaying on her feet. He placed a hand on her drooping shoulder.

"Rest.", she didn't argue, only settling for a tired nod. He took her place, and beckoned for the first of the three remaining kids.

And he was a big one.

His face was pudgy and wide, and his body mimicked it well, giving him the appearance of a balloon with clothes on it. Tai's arms were too short to fully wrap around the boy's chest, so he settled for underneath his arms instead. He molded the air beneath them into a suitable shape, and they were off. He had to struggle to get them high enough to clear the wall, nearly touching the top of it with his big toe as they reached the top of their arc above it. They curved downwards, dropping too quickly for Tai's comfort, he splayed a hand out towards the ground, causing the air beneath them to violently pulse, and catch them roughly. Tai stumbled a little as he touched down, and he nodded at the boy, who ran off to join the group nearby.

The last two children were far easier for him to carry over, and he did so in quick succession, leaving only Skoochy and Jinora on the other side. One more time he leapt back over, and found the two of them standing at the ready, with Jinora's arms wrapped around his waist. Tai readied himself again, and the three of them disappeared over the wall. Immediately after landing, they took off, with the group following them back to safety.

* * *

_Dragon Flats District._

"This is the place?"

Stoic as he was, Makei was glad he was wearing his brown trench coat over his gear, the uniform of Republic City's police force didn't do much in keeping the cold out. He kept the shivering under control, as he regarded his two junior officers, who both were dressed in civilian clothing, with the distinct bulge of wrist mounted launchers barely visible underneath them.

"Yes sir, looks like Shady Shin came through for us." Nisha answered. Hei stood next to her, glancing at the heavy wrought iron gate that barred access to the city's  
sewer network.

"As much as I hate to say it. He did.", Makei looked behind him, and pointed to the gate. "This tunnel should lead straight to one of their hideouts, going by Shady Shin's account." he adjusted his wrist launchers. "Reconnaissance only. We're only here to observe and determine if this was where the Equalists took the Avatar, no heroics, we get in, look around, and go home."

Nisha and Hei nodded. "Understood sir." they both said. Makei led the way, walking towards the heavy gate in front of them. He flexed his gloved hands, and the impure metal beckoned to his call, he slowly moved his arms out to his sides, and the metal mirrored the gradual movement, he stopped when the gate halves could go no further, and the tunnel entrance yawned in front of them, going straight for at least a hundred meters.

Makei walked inside, and his two officers followed, their footsteps ringing slightly as the curving concrete walls carried the noise a ways. Partway through the tunnel, Hei noticed something on the ground he was walking on.

"Sir?" he called out to the commander.

Makei turned around. "Yes corporal?"

"The ground. Tire tracks.", the young officer was crouched down, hovering over a pair of faded black lines, which ran far into the tunnel ahead, and had a distinctive zig zag pattern to them. Makei glanced downwards, noticing he was standing on a second pair as well.

"The tracks. I have a feeling they match the tires on their motorcycles." he wondered out aloud.

"Sir!" Nisha called out to him as well, and Hei looked over at her, wearing a curious expression. She was standing over a larger, and very faded, pair of thick grey lines. "I think they belong to the truck sir."

He nodded to the both of them. "Good work you two, looks like we're on the right _track_.", he desperately fought the urge to roll his eyes at his own wording.

They continued on, following the bike tracks closely. They kept going straight, for thirty meters, before suddenly curving to the right, heading straight into the strong metal walls that held up the deeper part of the tunnel. Nisha noted all of the alcoves and sewer grates that pockmarked the walls, and felt on edge.

"That's weird." Hei remarked. Nisha glanced at him before turning to Makei. "Tracks stop here."

"No. They don't..." Makei arched an wispy, graying eyebrow, and slammed his palms together, pulling them back, he reached towards the concrete, calling on the myriad particles of earth encased within.

His vision changed, and it was like the entire world was covered by a sepia filter, his gaze pierced the thin metal of the wall, and found the corridor that stretched out behind it, going off into places unknown. He cleared his vision up, and shook his head. He nodded curtly at the wall. "Get it open."

Nisha and Hei moved forwards, facing each other across a ten meter gap, they pressed their palms into the wall at the same time, and is of on cue, a section of the metal folded upwards, revealing a dark tunnel that ran deeper into the substructure of the city, a wide open area was visible at the end of it, the contents hazy and hard to see in the dim lighting. Whatever was in there needed a _lot _of storage space.

Makei walked forwards, keeping close to the walls in case he was spotted or a vehicle was coming. Nisha and Hei followed closely, eyes serious and professional as they gauged the shadows for any threats. Nothing came however, and they eventually reached the end of the dark little tunnel, they heard voices, and the whirl of machinery and the rumble of moving treads, and quickly pressed themselves against the wall nearby, obscured by the pipes that led out of the tunnel.

"Sir, this is gonna be tougher than we thought..." Hei breathed. Nisha glanced at him disapprovingly, before voicing her own opinion. "Hei's right sir, this has gotten complicated."

Makei listened to the two of them, while keeping an eye on the Equalist guards patrolling the massive room ahead. "Plan hasn't changed, we find where they're keeping the Avatar.", he chuckled, prompting glances from his subordinates. "And since we have no clue where to go, I suggest we _ask nicely_.", a smirk developed on Nisha's face, and Hei nodded determinedly, although he had a nervous look about him.

Makei crept a bit closer to the edge of the tunnel, getting a better view of the loading bay. Two trucks were parked next to each other, and sat nearby, a pair of rails ran in front of them, each one going into a separate tunnel to places known only to those of the Equalist cause. One of the rails began vibrating and shaking, as a platform pulled into the bay, the driver was wearing a pair of thick lensed goggles, and waited impatiently for the Equalist nearby to walk over.

The commander glanced at Hei. "Corporal, need your skills.", the young man crept up next to him, and followed Makei's gaze, he nodded and placed a hand over his ear, and pressed the other onto the metal flooring. He concentrated, following the minute vibrations in the metal caused by the men's talking with his bending.

"-urry up, I haven't got all day!"

"Yeah hang on willya? Gotta stand here and direct you guys all over the place..."

"Quit complainin'."

"Whatever." Hei heard him pause. "Prison."

"Thanks _princess_."

He uncovered his ear, and drew his palm back up. "That tram goes to a prison." he whispered to the others. Makei nodded. "It's a safe bet she'll be in there.", he looked around the corner, checking if any guards would see them. He motioned to Nisha and Hei, and ran into the open space, hidden from the eyes of the conductor and the driver by a heavy container that sat on their side of the tracks, and was large enough to get them most of the way without being spotted.

They ran around the side of the container, taking the two Equalists by surprise. The one on the tram didn't have time to cry out, as a metal wire wrapped itself around him and slammed him into the rail nearby, knocking him out. The conductor couldn't hear the commotion over the general din of equipment being moved or steam in the pipes, and whistled a jaunty little tune as he checked things off of his list, while not ten meters behind him three figures had commandeered the tram, and sped away into the tunnel. He finally looked up as a light nearby winked on, and an alarm wailed, signalling it's departure from the checkpoint.

All he could think about was how he would clean that guy out at cards tonight.

The tunnel's walls whipped past them as the tram took them to what was presumably the prison complex.

"Hope we didn't catch the wrong one..."

"We'll find out soon enough."

Another large area came into view ahead, signalling the end of the tunnel's journey. Hei leant over the rail and craned his head, trying to catch a glimpse of the room's layout, unfortunately all he caught was the edge of a metal railing, and a slap from Nisha. The young recruit rubbed the back of his head, throwing a dark look at his experienced partner. Makei rolled his eyes. "You know I can log that for workplace harassment, Nisha.", she whitened and looked away, while Hei sniggered, taking away what he could.

Voices, a lot of them, carried to them from the large open space ahead, Makei pointed to the cabin of the tram, and Nisha and Hei nodded, they quickly went inside, and shut the door, just as it pulled into the next checkpoint. The tiny room had two windows a side, Nisha sidled up to one of them, and promptly swore under her breath.

"We have a problem, sir."

The tram came to a stop, pulling up in front of a group of dark clothed Equalists, a few wore gas masks, while others went without headgear, but the two at the front caught their attention. A hooded man, with the hilts of two swords visible behind his head, was looking into the darkness of the little cabin, his piercing grey eyes spotted them easily, and he scowled. The grim white mask next to him seemed to shake slightly, as if with amusement, and turned away, the group parting for him as he approached a tram that had just pulled in from the other tunnel, it moved much slower than theirs did, and they soon knew the reason when they saw the heavy metal boxes it carried in place of a cabin, one of the boxes was being looked over by a equalist in black overalls, who removed the top lid to inspect the bombs and mecha claws inside. That box was one of six. The terroist boarded the tram, and it slipped into the tunnel with a shaky start, disappearing from sight.

"Problem indeed." he agreed.

Two of the gas masked chi blockers bounded forwards, throwing two silver canisters towards the open windows, a pair of metal tendrils flew forwards, and knocked them off course, sending them bouncing on the ground nearby as they released their contents. Nisha snagged two equalists with her wires, and launched herself through the window towards them, aiming for a knockout slam. A black sword slashed downwards, aiming to cut the wire and send her reeling, she had none of that, and retracted the wires, and rolled as she touched the ground, she sprang up, and focused on the closest chi blockers to her, she dodged their lightning quick jabs, retaliating by wrapping them both in wires, and sending them flying back, landing in a tangle near the other tram line.

Makei was standing near their commandeered vehicle, ripping up chunks of the floor to convince the equalists that staying in that tight grouping was a fantastic idea. A few bolos whipped towards him, and he deftly twisted underneath the first, and rolled to avoid the second and third, the whole time his bending display continued without pause, and slowly, but surely, the equalists began to clump together in a single mass of seven, with Nisha running towards their left flank, he caught a flash of movement, and the flapping of a hood as it's wearer moved quickly. He saw him running towards his junior officer, and he acted quickly, slamming a fist into the side of the tram. "Corporal! Keep them busy!"

Hei jumped out of the dark interior and onto the platform, and took up the earth bending barrage, his pale green eyes whipping from left to right desperately as he fought to keep track of each equalist.

Makei moved fast, powering through a few men that blocked his way as he went to cut off the hooded man from his lieutenant. The man turned his head slightly as he noticed the oncoming commander, he dodged as four metal wires snaked out towards him, he batted one away with the flat of his blade, twisted to avoid another, and leapt over the third. But the forth he didn't see coming, and coiled itself around his shoulder, Makei retracted it, causing the hooded man to stumble as he was pulled towards him. He fired the other three again, only for the man to cut his way free, and renew his dash, his new target leant back, bending his protesting knees as the blade flashed overhead in a horizontal slice, his eyes darted to the other one, which aimed to cut him down at the knees. as his back was about to meet the floor, he threw his hands down, and the earth belched upwards underneath him, propelling him over the swordsman and placing him behind his back.

He whipped around, both swords rushing to touch him with their wicked edges, he stomped a foot down, and a patch of earth erupted upwards, knocking them off course, nearly wrenching them out the man's hands. His opponent responded with a swift kick, that found his stomach, but the armor softened the blow, and Makei grabbed his leg, and twisted it, causing his younger foe to fall to the ground. He heard a cry of alarm from Hei, the corporal was visibly paling, as a wound on his shoulder bled profusely, and he stumbled a little.

He noticed a massive number of equalists pouring in from the upper level, and inwardly groaned. Giving the young man a swift kick in the gut, he ran over to Nisha, using his wires to restrain two chi blockers behind her. He retracted the wire until it went taut with the tension, and he lifted them into the air, pulling in the opposite direction, and they crashed to the ground near the downed swordsman.

Nisha whipped around, wires at the ready, and almost sighed with relief when she saw the commander standing there, he jerked his head towards the tram, and she nodded, retracting her wires and running to their escape vehicle. As she passed Hei, she placed him on her shoulder without any visible effort, and leapt onto the tram, and She gestured at Makei, and he nodded, grumbling as bolos began to throw themselves at him in massive numbers, he stomped on the ground, and the patch of wall behind the equalists on the upper level projected outwards, and shunted several of them over the rails and to the floor below, disorienting and confusing the group.

He jumped onto the tram, and began fiddling with the controls, soon enough the rails began to spark as the connectors eased their grip, and the tram began to slide back through the tunnel.

As it reached the tunnel's entrance, and they left the hornet's nest behind, having failed in their objective. Safe for the short while, he let go of the controls, and walked into the cabin, and saw Nisha kneeling over Hei, who's normally olive skin was now a dirty, pale, white, and was getting worse. The wound on his shoulder was deep.

"Corporal-" Hei didn't respond. "CORPORAL!" he shouted, the young man opened his eyes and looked at the commander, visibly straining to stay conscious.

"What happened?" Makei asked.

"Don't know, I think it was a throwing knife sir..." he cried out in pain, and Nisha grabbed bandage from a compartment in her armor, and rolled it around his wound as fast as she could, desperation and concern fueling her efforts.

The tram came to a halt, and Makei went first, checking for anyone in the checkpoint, luckily, it was empty, and he gestured for Nisha to pick up Hei. She gently looped a arm around him, and helped him up, walking him out of the tram cabin and towards the dark tunnel that led them here. The commander followed, trailing a little to keep a watch on the doors on the upper level, any of which could open at the touch of a equalist, at any moment.

It was a slow slog up the tunnel, with Nisha having to walk carefully due to the deepening absence of light the further they went in. Hei's head began to loll, his eyes fluttered, and suddenly the weight on her shoulders got much more heavier, she didn't complain, only nodding at Makei to open the wall that led out into the sewer tunnel. Makei had never gone for subtlety at any point in his life, and that didn't change as he exchanged 'pleasantries' with the metal wall, it relented after only a second, peeling upwards, with several rents now marring the smooth metal. The mechanism squealed as it fought to shut the wall again, they headed through as fast as they could, and, sensing the victory it secured, the metal wall section swung shut again, forming an unbroken wall once more.

Their footsteps echoed off the walls as they neared the massive iron gate barring access outside. Metalbending didn't care for it though, and Makei stopped for a moment, letting Nisha rest her feet for a bit while he rose his arms upwards, and the heavy metal complied, raising for them, and letting them through.

They walked back out into the dry canal, Nisha had difficulty going up the smooth and angled wall, so Makei grabbed onto her arm and guided her up, and they walked across the street, and down the snow burdened road nearby, aiming to find a signal station nearby.

* * *

_Police Headquarters._

"Lieutenant."

Nisha didn't answer readily, instead gazing nervously at the door that led to the second level hallway, as if sure doing so would let her know that Hei was going to be alright.

"Lieutenant."

She still didn't respond, going over what she could have done, how she should have done, how to prevent, how to stop...

"Nisha."

She blinked, and looked at Makei. "S-sir.", unbeknownst to her, she was wringing her officer hat intensely, and her eyes were nervous and concerned.

"Kid'll pull through."

"I hope so sir, He- Corporal's tough."

"Can we focus now?"

She gave him a weak smile. "Of course sir.", Makei smiled back, and than sighed. "We need to set one thing straight: we didn't find the avatar.", she nodded. "But we did find out how well equipped the equalists really are."

"Yes. Not good at all."

Nisha rose up, putting her hat on, straightening it before heading towards the door, and left without a word, he heard her footsteps gradually quickening.

Sighing, he chose a stack at random to go through, he remembered something important, something that would save him from bureaucratic hell. He picked up the phone, and dialled a number.

"Operator. Councilman Tenzin's residence.", a typical, strong yet happy voice bubbled through. "One moment, commander.", he drummed his fingers against the desk, and found his eyes kept wandering to the quarter full bottle of golden liquid sitting on the cabinet nearby, taunting him with indecision. He almost sighed with relief the operator came back on. "Line's connected commander, have a pleasant day."

"Thank you."

A slightly worried voice came on. "Councilman Tenzin."

"Tenzin, just calling to give you lead on Korra's whereabouts."

"Uh, thank you Mak."

"Don't worry about it. The dry canal in the dragon flats, a wrought iron gate has been installed over it recently. We looked into it, and found the entrance to a massive equalist base. Even ran into Amon and his drones."

"What happened?"

Makei sighed. "One of my officers was wounded, he's safe though."

The voice breathed a sigh of relief on the other end. "Thank you, that helps immensely Mak." the voice dropped away, and he heard a door open on the other end.

"Wha-Lin? Gotta go.", the line went dead, and Makei found his jaw had too, almost ready to fall off his face and into a early grave. He chuckled and placed the phone back on it's bed, and grabbed a report from the stack, thumbing through it as he began a campaign against the paper bureaucracy.


	13. The Station, and The Maze

The last of the children moved past them, forming a loose line by the back of the truck, with a few of them having already clambered into it's cavernous hold, most likely to stay close to the crate of food Tai and Sensha had just recently liberated for them. The two teens stood nearby, watching with bemusement at the display. Skoochy walked up to them, his customary conductor hat in his hand. He had a strange expression on his face, one that Tai thought had never had a place on him before. Before he could make anymore observations, Skoochy cut him off.

"Uh. Thanks.", the street urchin, no, the _twelve year old kid_, had his eyes glued to the ground, no doubt trying to avoid their judging looks. Sensha, bent down to his level, placing a hand on his shoulder, recognising the gesture, he looked up, and she gave him a warm smile. "It's okay, Skoochy. There's no need to-"

"Yeah. There is."

She blinked twice, although her smile was still there. The boy looked at her, and a tear rolled down his tanned cheek. "I-if you hadn't found us when you had, we-", he gasped, as he found himself wrapped in her comforting arms, her lips near his ear. "You don't need to think about that." they moved. She broke off the hug, and stood back up, her hand still gripping his.

Tai was careful in his wording. "Skoochy, we've helped you and your gang, but we'll be needing to help someone else very soon." he bent down to his level. "Which way did Tarrlok go to leave the city?", he noticed the tear had dried up, and the kid was looking at him with a sense of understanding. "I was hanging down at Central Station yesterday, and I saw him pull up in a truck. He was angry about something, and the Earth Kingdom guy he was seeing caught all of it." he shrugged. "To be honest, I'd seen this thing all the time, but than the back of the truck started moving and banging around. When he was done with his friend, he left, heading down the road that led to the Koi Mountain."

Tai nodded, and straightened to his full height, his gaze thoughtful and determined. "Skoochy, thank you. I think we're on to something." Sensha nodded as well, agreeing with his observation. Skoochy looked at the both of them, and than back towards the truck. A kid's voice carried to them, and he grimaced. "I'm needed with them. See ya' around.

"Be safe Skoochy!" Sensha called, the young street urchin waved the suggestion off dismissively, although he allowed himself a small smile, before walking off towards the waiting truck behind him, it's engine rumbling with anticipation. He climbed into the drivers seat and closed the door, and to the surprise of Tai, guided the vehicle smoothly onto the main street, soon disappearing around a corner.

"I really shouldn't be surprised he knows how to drive." Tai stated. Sensha smirked as she crossed her arms, shaking her head sadly. "I hope the directions you gave him are good.", he chuckled. "Luzon will be surprised, that's for sure.", he glanced at Sensha, noticing the absence of a reply.

"You were great in there, Sensha.", she whipped her head up at his words. "I know-" she began to fidget though, striking a hard contrast with her words. "-But let's be honest here, _you _did most of the work.", she gave him a smile. He frowned, genuinely confused at her statement. "You really think that? I wrecked the plan, we were going to follow those two to the base, and look what happened, I didn't go easy on them."

"You did make up for it by beating up ten fire benders. And keeping the flames from burning us alive, you don't give yourself enough credit sometimes."

"Still doesn't hide the fact that I nearly, genuinely, _killed_ two men." he didn't meet her gaze, too afraid of luring that judging look from before.

"No. It doesn't." she agreed quietly. She walked towards him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "All you can do is move on, learn from it, and make sure you don't repeat your mistakes. Or you could just join the circus or something." she grinned at him, a amused light dancing in her eyes. He was still working out that last part. "Eh - what?" he scratched his head, very much confused. She chuckled at how lost he was, "My grandma had a few problems when she was a child, so, she ran away to join a circus."

"Right..."

The sound of a motorcycle engine stopped them, and they both looked towards the alley leading back to the street, seeing the black carapace of Boto's motorcycle pull around the corner towards them, his wolf helm grinning savagely at them. It coasted to a halt, and it's rider stepped away from it, taking the helmet into the crook of his arm.

"So, how'd it go?" he asked. Sensha and Tai glanced at each other, she mouthed something to him, and he rolled his eyes, Boto crossed his arms at their display. "We had to deliver a crate of food to Skoochy that the Agni Kai's took from him in exchange for the lead." Sensha took over from here. "When we got back the Agni Kai's had kidnapped him and his gang, so we trailed them to their headquarters to rescue them." she said, Tai glanced at her, noticing a slight shiver going over her as she recounted the night's events. He stopped her with a apologetic glance. "Skoochy gave us a lead-", this got Boto's attention. "-He saw Tarrlok down at Central Station, laying into a Earth Kingdom guy about something-" he tilted his head. "I'm betting it's to do with where he took Korra."

The young man nodded thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "Central Station is a hub for any major routes out of the city, _and_ that does confirm the lead I chased up last night." he noticed the other's curious expressions. "I visited a old family friend of mine, he helped raise me in the south pole, and looked out for me when I was...traveling.", he saw them both giving him strange looks, but he ignored them, not wanting to reveal anything more at this time. "He's working for the Earth Kingdom now, and he noticed that one of the diplomats who worked under him, Gujong, was acting suspiciously, he tried to question him about it but he ran off, and-" he held up his index finger,"-was last seen at Republic City's own Central Station.", he waited for the impressed reaction from the two of them.

"Not bad." Sensha said. Tai glanced at her, smirking. "Although attacking a Agni Kai base does seem a bit more involved than that. Still good hustle.", he laughed as Boto's shoulders drooped, and he hung there loosely for a second, feeling useless. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up. "Seriously, good job, we have a solid lead." he sighed as Tai retracted his hand, and walked to the side of the motorcycle, fishing for his discarded helmet.

Sensha gave him an apologetic smile, and stood near the motocycle's seat, waiting for Boto. He shook his head and walked to her, his expression covered by his smiling wolf helm. He mounted the seat, and his hands gripped the handlebars tightly, he nodded that he was ready, and Sensha sat behind him, looping her hands around his waist for support and balance. He glanced down at Tai, his face unreadable behind the black visor. The seventeen year old gave him a thumbs up, and he nodded. He gunned the engine, and the bike coasted forwards and around the corner, guided by his experienced hand.

They turned out into the street, leaving the grinning bull-crocodile sign behind as they took the road left, the buildings in their immediate surroundings were small and squat, but as they got closer to the inner -and consequently _richer_- edge of the district, their view was staunched by elaborate and ever taller apartment complexes and business offices, as they turned another corner, leaving this road and going down one of the city's main arteries, each building that surrounded them was almost tall enough to blot out any remaining light the sun could throw at them as it began to recede into the horizon.

With nothing to do, Tai watched the scenery flash by. Even though he had been here for almost a month now, he still loved how the city gleamed when the sun threw it's last kisses at them, just before it made way for the moon to sparkle and shine. He found himself looking at Sensha, and quietly marvelling at how the light caught her brilliant amber eyes, and seemed to reflect the whole world from them. He shook his head, briefly wondering what had gotten into him.

Maybe that landing was more painful than it looked-suddenly her short raven locks called to him, and he gazed at the tufts that neatly poked out from underneath the simple grey helmet she wore. She glanced at him, and he reddened, keeping an eye on the road ahead. Unbeknownst to him, Sensha sighed and rolled her eyes behind her helmet.

Boto twisted the handlebars to the right, overtaking a gaudy red dragster on the outside, it's owner shook his fist at them, Boto didn't reciprocate, merely focusing on the road ahead. It terminated at the edge of a large open square. A large structure, that spanned the entire breadth of the plaza, loomed over the people passing through, yet, for a building so vast and so integral to the city's transportation, it absolutely failed to eclipse the statue of the fire bending man in front of it. The man held a serious look in his eyes, made even more piercing by the flame shaped burn around his left eye.

Even Tai knew who that man was.

He was shaken from his reverie with a sudden halt of motion. They were parked near the main doors of the station, Boto managed to get them a spot that wouldn't disturb the constant traffic of people moving through the doors, while still getting them easy access. Sensha dismounted first, stretching a little as she watched the people enter.

"So how do we find this Gujong guy?" she asked.

Boto regarded her with a smirk, although only his chin was visible to her. "The old fashioned way. Eyes and ears."

Tai took of his helmet, placing it in the side car seat. "I'm up for some sleuthing.", Sensha rolled her eyes. "We'd better get in there then."

* * *

Although Tai still held onto that earlier excitement, it was severely beaten now, and most likely crying in a dark cellar's corner.

His eyes were getting increasingly strained, and his patience was about to annihilated. The station was massive, and at least five hundred people passed through it's main floor at any time. He was sick of the jostling, tired of the random insults thrown by drunks, and irritated by a sore spot on the ball of his right foot that just would not go away.

But most of all. He was pissed off. Every hour they wasted wandering the stations confines, every hour that madman would gain towards his plans being completed, he shuddered when he thought of his friend, alone and most likely scared witless, in a dark place. His minds eye painted it as a pitch black arena, overlooked on each side by observation windows, and in the middle sat a cold steel coffin, and she was there, utterly and completely terrified of what lay around her.

Suddenly, he hated his minds eye.

Still, he wasn't alone in his search. Sensha was poking around the upper platforms of the station, checking every possible place a councilman would be. More than likely she was getting increasingly desperate, just like he was, and he was sure that Boto felt exactly the same. To be honest, it was a no win scenario, they were looking for one man, in a station that could hold thousands, and admitted hundreds of crowds each hour, he care for the odds though, only for the result.

As the overhead windows let the starlight begin to shine it's best and brightest through, he sighed, and rounded a thick square column, coming face to face with a brown skinned man, standing over a smaller man dressed in dark green robes, his fingers were splayed out at odd angles, and they waved through the air in abrupt, jerky, movements. The man's eyes flashed towards him, dangerous and feral. He grinned that shark like expression.

"Oh how good of you to join us young man." he stated in a sing song voice. The man below him writhed and screamed wordlessly, his pale green eyes were looking into Tai's, and they said only two words.

_Help me_.

As if on command, Tai's hand reached towards the black handle of his sword, and the steel whispered to the leather as he began to drag it out, the gleaming metal caught the light nearby, shining and brilliant.

"Let him go.", Tai struggled to keep his voice level and neutral, and didn't dare to blink in his presence.

"Why should I follow the word of a vagrant?" the man showed those horrible white teeth again, as he intensified the movements his fingers traced. The man underneath him cried out as his spine twisted in unnatural ways. Fear had overtaken him, and Tai had to act quickly.

"You know. Ever since I carried you out of that burning warehouse, you have been nothing but ungrateful to me."

Tai's hands balled into fists unknowingly. "You're forgetting someone.", the man barked cruelly, his gaze turning down to the cowering and pain-wracked man at his feet.

"Yes I suppose I am! How can I forget the Avatar's assistance?"

"WHERE IS SHE!", the boy was seething now, and Tarrlok knew it. He had a triumphant gleam in his eyes. "Well, you won't get anything with shouting young man." the man below screamed again, as he stabbed his fingers forwards a bit, causing the man's arms to wrench above his shoulders in blinding and impossible motion.

"Stop playing games. Where is Korra!", Tai let more of the blade slide upwards, as he advanced menacingly towards the weasel-snake. His eyes were focused on the man's slimy, smiling visage, and he didn't noticed that Tarrlok's free hand began moving towards him.

"You really think I'd tell-" he extended a palm towards Tai, and instantly, his body locked up, and he couldn't move at all. He snapped his fingers, and Tai cried out in pain as his hand was wrenched painfully upwards, and his arm was bent the wrong way."-, just like that?", seething pain coursed through his body, but he didn't relent, and fought bravely to keep his vision from slipping into blackness. His voice was shaky, and halting as he addressed the blood bender. "I-urgh- do -argh!- actually."

Even though his very blood fought against him, he managed a small taunting smirk. Impossibly, he moved his right foot forwards a step, and Tarrlok's eyes widened in surprise. His left foot followed that single step, and slowly, he resumed his advance against the depraved councilman. Tarrlok moved a step back, and in desperation, relinquished his hold on the man on the floor, bringing all of his power towards the boy with the sword on his back.

There was a definite growl in his voice. "I should have killed you when I first saw you."

"Keep. Trying. Old man.", incredibly, the boy had regained the confident edge, and laughed fully. Tarrlok roared, and his fingers danced jarringly in the air, Tai shouted out involuntarily as he was lifted off his feet, and yelled in pain as he felt his blood rise inside of him. His vision dimmed dangerously, and he felt his mind slipping away. He didn't register the impact his body had against the wall nearby, or the waving pale blue coat tail as the councilman ran through a door nearby, labelled employees only.

He groaned as his insides began to recover from the effects of the forbidden technique, from his position on the floor, he saw the man that Tarrlok was torturing, but couldn't see his chest rising or falling. His hand flailed about as he willed it to clamp down onto the floor, after a while, it finally complied, and he managed to raise himself up a little. He registered footsteps coming around the corner, as Boto and Sensha came running into view. She skidded to a halt in front of him, kneeling to better examine his injuries. He gasped a little as she touched a sensitive patch on his side, and he grimly remembered that what was what hit the ground first after being beaten by Tarrin.

"Tai! Where's he gone?", he screwed his eyes shut as he shifted his body, and the pain from the movement overwhelmed him. He nodded at the open door nearby.

"In there."

Boto was over by the other man, his hands covered by glowing globules of water as he ran them over the unconscious man. Grimacing he stood up, and went over to Tai, Sensha shifted wordlessly out of his way, as the southern tribesman put his healing skills to work. Relief coursed through him as the pain dulled, and he could finally move without his body warring against him. He went to stand up, and Sensha quickly helped him.

"We've got to move now, there's no telling where he's running to." he stated. The others nodded, and Boto went in first, being the fastest and uninjured. He clung onto Sensha, as she guided him through the door. The room was dark, and almost devoid of furniture or machinery, only playing host to a small rickety desk with a untrustworthy lamp, and a staircase that dropped into the a steamy expanse below.

He glanced at Sensha. "Must be a access to the lower levels.", she smirked and chuckled. "What told you that one _genius_?", while her voice held amusement and cheer, her eyes were filled with concern, mainly for his well being. As she took him down the steps, one at a time, she kept a worried eye on him. "How much is it hurting?"

"Blood bending can go hang."

"You should recover shortly, than we can catch the bastard."

"And find her."

Oddly enough, Sensha seemed to hesitate a little. "Y-yeah."

He didn't pursue the reason, merely nodding. As they delved into the steam covered entryway, he felt the air around him grow heavy and moisture laden. That was bad news for his fire bending than, and Sensha probably knew hers would be less effective as well.

* * *

Boto was in a bad position, and he knew it.

Steam clouded him everywhere he looked, and the dark, claustrophobic tunnels were not helping him. But he'd been waiting a long time to do this, and he wouldn't let a little maze stop him.

His boots made clanging sounds against the grated flooring, as he ran through tunnel after tunnel, hoping to catch a glimpse of those pale blue coat tails that marked his foe.

His feet found that same corner, and he whirled around it, coming face to face with the ever present cloud of steam that pervaded the tunnels. A chuckling laugh carried to him, gaining a tinny tone after it hit the metal walls and pipes that made up the tunnel. Underneath his wolf helm, he growled, and continued his hunt, he slowed down near intersections, where the mad man could attack from any direction. He ran down what he thought was a tunnel he'd been down before, damning the fact that they all looked the same.

Suddenly he heard a whisper of crystalline noise around him, and a group of sharp icicles hard materialised into being, their sharp tips aimed at head level. He swore as the first one slammed into him, before he could react, luckily his helmet was tough, and took the impact, although it shook him around a bit. The rest of them followed, and he ducked and swerved at the onslaught, dodging the deadly spikes as best as he could. He made a flowing, smooth arc with his arm, and the rest of the icicles melted instantly, dripping down through the grated flooring. He was breathing hard, as he regained his senses, and kept his eyes open for any blurry shapes coming towards him through the cloud. Another laugh this time, much closer, and he advanced cautiously down a tunnel to his right. He came to another intersection, and like a shadow, a madly grinning face appeared in front of him.

"Hello, Boto."

Boto went for a right hook, but was thrown back, as Tarrlok had encased his hand in a thick block of ice, and slammed it into his stomach. He landed hard, and coughed and sputtered. He got up as fast as he could, running back to where he was, but the councilman had disappeared again, chuckling as the steam cloud swallowed him up once more.

He winced as his stomach flared in pain, and he covered a hand over it, and cautiously resumed his search.

"So how's the city been treating you?", he whirled, gathering a stream of water out of the steam cloud, ready to slam him across the face, only to see no one there. "So sad you had to leave the south.", he whipped around again, and caught a glimpse of a mad blue eye disappearing into the cloud. He was on edge, and he felt the adrenaline pumping through his system. He got a idea, and chuckled a deep and rolling laugh. "Right, because you had nothing at all to do with it, _murderer_."

He heard a yell to his right, and he whirled to meet the advancing maniac, his right hand encased in a block of ice. Tarrlok ducked under the heavy blow, and summoned a water whip out of the steam, and wrapped it around his ankle. It squeezed, and he gritted his teeth as the pressure increased.

"Murderer? You shouldn't call your uncle such names."

"You aren't any family of mine!", Boto was answered by a scathing laugh, and Tarrlok pushed his face in close. "_Oh_, but I am. Blood you see-" the water whip continued to tighten, and he made jerky, abrupt movements with his other hand, the effect on the young man was sudden and pain filled, as his life fluid rebelled against him, and he felt a rib give way, and he cried out in pain, he would have fallen to the floor, but the councilman had control over his movements, and kept him standing straight, a angry fire in his eyes.

"See you around Boto."

He saw, rather than felt, the impact into the steam pipe nearby. His forehead made bloody contact with it, and he slumped to the floor, his vision quickly blackening as he watched the pale coat tails walk off into the cloud again, ready to ambush his friends.

* * *

The cloud enveloped the two of them, as they came face to face with the first of many identical tunnels. The pipes that covered the walls hissed, and a few loose valves along their length were releasing large amounts of steam, making the atmosphere very hot, and very humid. Instantly, Sensha found her palms were covered in a moist sheen, and she had difficulty keeping a hold on the injured boy.

"Careful, floor's slippery."

"Don't worry, I'll see it coming. If you fall first I'll be dragged down with you.", he winced as she lightly slapped him on the shoulder. "Right, I deserved that."

She sighed, and they kept going, steadily making their way into the tunnels. "I hope Boto's alright."

"He's tough, he'll probably have caught Tarrlok by now.", he coughed, as he felt his breath catch in his throat, no doubt due to the high humidity. Sensha glanced at him worryingly. She guided them around a corner, walking into another expanse of steam. It was constant, and always there, hanging at head height, and projecting moist, uncomfortable air below itself.

They continued rounding corner after corner, as they searched for Boto. Suddenly a whisper of air caught the attention of Tai's ear. The steam around him whirled and solidified into a grey lash of water that whipped towards his head. He pushed Sensha out of the way, swaying unsteadily as he slashed a slice of air towards the whip. It slammed through it, cutting it in half and letting the droplets splash back into the floor grates. He grabbed onto a thick pipe nearby for balance, his hand slipping slightly as it tried to gain a purchase on the slick surface. He heard a yelp, and he looked down the tunnel to his right, where Sensha should have been.

She was gone. And there he was, alone, and stuck in a steam filled mess with a psychopathic blood bender. He sighed, things just keep getting better.

He held onto the pipe, and walked down it, quietly panicking about where the bastard had taken her to. He kept moving forward, eyes swinging to the left and right whenever he passed another intersection of tunnels. The stretch he was in came to an end, going into a tunnel that ran left and right, marking it as a border of the steam filled labyrinth.

He advanced carefully down this stretch of tunnel, keeping to it's outside wall as much as he could, cautious of the multiple tunnels that branched off of this one, and led deeper into the steam works. Gradually he found he could walk a bit more steadily, and let go of the pipe, swaying a bit as he moved forwards without the support of the pipe. He found another corner, and poked his head around it, spying for anyone down there. Ever cautious of the steam, he went down the tunnel, heard a scream that carried from the inner twisting of tunnels.

He advanced cautiously along one of the tunnels that branched away, and came to a intersection, turning left, he saw Sensha's face, contorted in painful agony, and behind her was Tarrlok, grinning savagely as he manipulated her very body to do what he wants. She was floating in the air, centimeters above the grated floor, and her hair was limpid and drooping. Her eyes were wide, and afraid. He reached a hand to the handle protruding above his back, letting the metal slide out smoothly. He whirled his free hand, and slowly, the steam crowded to the walls of the tunnel, and he could see his friend being held by the madman.

He watched Tarrlok smile that shark like visage again, and suddenly Sensha cried out as her limbs were stretched to their breaking points. His fists shook with the idea of letting him continue his torture. He took a step forwards, but her pained shouts grew louder and more frenzied as her blood rebelled against her. A dark look was settling on Tai, and he was thinking of letting it stay.

Tarrlok threw her into the wall nearby, and ran towards Tai, his fingertips gleaming as sharp pinions of ice grew over them. He slashed them towards the boy, who responded by dancing back, stumbling as he felt a sore muscle complain. He twisted around Tarrlok and blasted a gust of air, point blank, into his back, it slammed into the wall, but he shook it off, and jumped back, his fingers extended in strange, jerky positions at him.

His blood was taken over again, and Tai struggled as best he could. He felt like iron clamps were placed all over him, and he couldn't move at all. Gritting his teeth, he tried to break through the control, and was repulsed several times, each more painful than the last. He tried once more, and finally his hand rose up, with an open palm. He called the heavy air to gather into a ultra dense ball of pressure, and Tarrlok frowned. He sent it flying forwards, smacking into the councilman's stomach like a sledgehammer, he was carried down the tunnel by the overpressured orb, and the steam swallowed him up, leaving Tai to hold onto the pipe for support, breathing heavily.

He looked down, and saw Sensha slumped against the wall, unconscious. He grimaced as his ribs began another complaining sessions, he went over to her, and knelt in front of her. He heard a voice behind him, and he whipped around, seeing Boto, who had a hand clamped onto his stomach.

"Tai! You alright?"

"Barely, but Sensha's out cold."

"Damn it!"

"There's no point chasing after him, he's probably long gone now.", he looked over at Boto, who sighed in frustration. "Alright...are you injured?"

"Nothing I can't handle, but we need to get her out of here.", Boto nodded and walked towards her unconscious form, and slung her over his shoulder. Boto pointed down the tunnel, indicating the direction he was going, Tai nodded, and limped after him, glad to be leaving the steam cloud behind.

Eventually they found the stairs again, and took them slowly, on account of their injuries proving too great for anything faster than a limp. They found themselves in the dark little room again, and saw the Earth Kingdom guy standing nearby, with a worried look on his face. He went to speak, but Boto held up a hand to silence him, he found the only chair in the room, and placed Sensha down on it, making sure she was upright before turning back to the old man.

"Are you alright, sir?" he asked, the old man's eyes almost boggled out of their sockets. "Am I alright? How about you three? Tarrlok's a dangerous man!", he shook himself, and calmed down. "Sorry, my name is Gujong, diplomatic envoy for the Earth Kingdom.", he stuck out a hand, and Boto took it gingerly, wincing slightly as the small movement pained him a little. "Lieutenant Boto, hold on-" he took of his wolf helmet, showing a sheepish smile. "-That's better, I'm Lieutenant Boto, Republic City police force."

Tai took the pause as a chance to introduce himself as well. "My name is Tai," he paused, searching for the right title. "Air bending pupil.", Gujong nodded. "My regards to Master Tenzin.", Tai arched an eyebrow. "You know Tenzin?", the diplomat chuckled. "Indeed I do, he's an old friend of mine.", then he sighed, and rubbed a hand down his face. "I'm glad you found me when you did.", Boto stepped forward. "What was Tarrlok threatening you with?", Gujong hung his head, staring mournfully at the floor. "He has my family, and he wanted me to give him access into the Kingdom's borders. I couldn't get it though, and it made him angry."

"Is he planning a trip?" Tai asked. Gujong glanced at him, nodding somberly. "He wanted to head back to the Northern Water Tribe, and the only way he could do that, is if he gained access to a port on the northern coast. Kuei harbour was going to be his way off the mainland.", Boto crossed his arms, giving Gujong a suspicious look. "What would going to the Northern Water Tribe accomplish for him?", the diplomat shrugged. "I have no idea."

"Is your family safe?" Boto asked. Gujong shook his head sadly. "I don't know, I haven't seen them for a week now.".

"Sir. If I may interrupt?", Boto and the diplomat were both looking at him now. "Are there any places on Koi mountain which may provide shelter, that you know of?", Boto rubbed his chin, beginning to arrive at the same conclusion. Gujong nodded. "All I can think of is a old cabin on the eastern slope. I have a map, I can mark it for you.", Tai blinked twice, hardly believing his good luck. "That's...fantastic!", Boto was grinning as well. "Thank you Gujong. This might be what we're looking for." Gujong chuckled, and inclined his head towards the both of them. "It is no problem my friends, I hope you find your companion.", he laughed and hobbled away, putting on a sage green bowler hat as he left the room. Boto and Tai stood there, not a sound coming from them.

Sensha stirred, and looked at the both of them, her movements weak and languid. "What happened?", she went to get up, only to struggle to even grip the chair to support herself. Tai walked over to her, and looped an arm around her, lifting her gently to her feet. "Good to see you on your feet."

She glanced at him, a weak smile on her features. "You're right, blood bending _can_ go hang.", he laughed softly. "I'm glad we can agree on something.", Boto walked over to the two of them, drawing a stream of water out of a sealskin pouch slung onto his back. "Careful Sen. You won't be able to move completely for a few minutes, where does it hurt?", even in her tired state, she managed to roll her eyes. "_E__verywhere_.", he smirked as he formed the stream into a healing glob, and ran it over her body. Her eyes visibly brightened as the pain was dulled and drawn out of her, and her blood began to return to a normal flow. She breathed out a huge breath, and her smile was much stronger this time. "Thanks, Boto.", she drew away from Tai, and he relented, letting her stand on her own two feet, although still swaying a bit unsteadily. "So where to next?"

Boto grabbed his helmet, nestling it in the crook of his arm. "To find Korra."


	14. The Quaker, and The Ambush

_Police Headquarters._

"Is he going to pull through?"

Saikhan was seated on the other side of the mahogany desk, dressed in the black and gold armour that denoted his rank as chief. A bottle stood between him and his friend, it's golden contents now reaching just above the bottom. A shot glass was sitting next to it, holding a fiver of the honey colored substance. He held one such glass in his gloved hand, and had just emptied it's load.

Makei nodded, rubbing his temple as he did so. "Yeah he's a tough kid, he won't be downed so easily."

"What was the weapon?"

"An equalist throwing knife-" he picked up the glass on the table, and downed it in one go, grunting slightly as the contents burned their way down his throat."-nasty little things.", his friend nodded in agreement. "They have an edge over us, I need to remind Keijo to step up the research into our armor enhancements.", Makei chuckled as he leant forward, pouring more of the amberei into his glass. "Why stop there? We could use more than just wires to subdue crims."

"I'll take a leaf from the equalist book. How about bolo's?"

"Nah…takes too long to use effectively."

"Are you certain about that? I've been to the great swamp, I've seen _five year olds_ using them."

"No. What would really give us an edge would be some of those electrified kali sticks."

"I think that's a bit too much."

"Well-" Makei shrugged. "-chief knows best.", he burst out laughing at Saikhan's scowling expression. He calmed down, and his face grew serious and sombre. "Hei should be out in an hour or so."

"What did you find?"

"Not the Avatar unfortunately. But we did find out the Equalists are stepping up their game, they're moving some heavy ordinance down there."

"I fear it may be time to call for help soon."

"You may be right."

"Hmm. Another thing, Lin came by earlier, busted out those three kids who were with the avatar."

Makei arched an eyebrow, keeping a mildly curious exterior. "That's…unexpected.", Saikhan nodded. "Tell me about it, I have no idea what she wants with them.", Makei threw his hands up. "Don't expect me to ask, remember what happened last year? On the Sho chase?", Saikhan blinked, "Well don't look at me! I wasn't going to ask Lin about it, I thought you should have done it instead, being the commander and all."

"When I remember it, I feel like my head is still spinning…", Saikhan laughed at his past misfortune. "It was pretty hilarious!", Makei was in a grumbling mood now. "I don't care if you're the chief, I will pop you one!"

Saikhan stood up, still grinning from the memory. "Sorry, I have to go.", he walked away, still shaking his head as he remembered the painful, boggled expression on his friends face.

"So long, _chief_." he grumbled. The door swung shut, and he sighed. He had to admit, his face was pretty damned hilarious when she hit him. He glanced at the silently waiting amberei, and poured himself another one, and stoppered the bottle. He picked up a report document, noting that more and more equalist sightings were popping up with alarming regularity. One thing after another.

A knock roused him, and Makei looked up from his desk, subtly placing the bottle back in his drawer. He clasped his hands together, and rested his elbows on the desk's smooth surface, his eyes focusing on the door. "It's open."

A gloved hand appeared, gripping the brass doorknob, and Nisha stepped through. She closed it behind her, and walked into the room, stopping in front of his desk. She snapped off a quick salute, and Makei returned the gesture. "Sir. He's ready for questioning."

The commander stood up from his desk. "Let's get this over with.", he walked over to the cabinet nearby, grabbing his hat and putting on his head. Nisha was waiting patiently for him, and he obliged, going out into the hallway. He heard the door close behind him, and Nisha followed him, as he turned a corner to head down the stairs. He descended all the way down to the ground floor, sometimes having to push past a group of media rats. He moved past the reception desk, continuing until he reached a pair of wooden doors set at the end of the hallway, a guard stood in front of the wall between them, and saluted as he and Nisha went through the door to his right.

His hand closed around the knob, and he pulled it open, walking into a practically furnished room, it's most notable feature being a massive one way window that took up a whole wall. He stood in front of it and peered at the massively built man on the other side. Since his arrest a few days ago, ceramic cuffs kept his hands and feet together, and unable to move in a wide degree of freedom. They were tight enough to keep him from doing any earth bending, but loose enough to allow blood to still circulate. The man himself, had a rough, scraggly beard, with flecks of salty colored hair visible throughout the tangled mess. He reached a giant sized hand to scratch at it, and his dark green eyes seemed to be staring directly at Makei. He chuckled, laughing at a joke no one else could hear. He was seated behind a metal table, that might as well be a coffee table to him.

Nisha glanced at her commander, as she saw the dark scowl on his weathered features. "Sir? Are you ready?", Makei nodded. "As much as I'll ever be.", he sighed as he walked past her, exiting the room. She watched as the door into the interview room was thrown open with a rough push, and Makei stepped in, she had a great view of the back of his black and grey colored crew cut. He stomped a foot down, and a chair shaped protrusion erupted from the floor, he sat down it, regarding the triad leader silently.

"How've you been, Quan?", the giant chuckled, his laugh a deep rumble that seemed to shake the room. "Commander Makei? How long has it been?" he said with a mocking tone. Makei folded his arms, and leant back in his rock chair. "Five months since we last had you beat."

"Ah yes...when I was trying to reclaim some of my territory from those shifty monsoons."

"Republic City is _not _a playground Quan."

"No...it's my backyard.", Quan grinned, and his eyes twinkled as they practically begged Makei to beat the living spirits out of him. Makei still had a vestige of a smile on him, as he tilted his head slowly. "Is that _right_?", the criminal's face fell for a moment, and his eyes flashed darkly. Makei shrugged, not caring for his theatrics. "Enough talk. Equalist bases. Where are they?"

"Why would I know where weak scum like them build their hidey holes?", the commander answered him by leaning forward, smirking. "Earth bending has many applications, last I checked they kept their bases underground, in your element.", the large man laughed. "And even if I did know, why would I tell _you_?", Makei leaned back in his chair, a smile growing on him. "Because last I checked, being cooped up in a wooden cell is not a good place to be for the leader of a triad." he shrugged, "Who knows? Maybe some people may be getting ideas to mess around in your 'backyard'.", Quan growled in response, and Makei knew he was getting through to what he needed, he pressed his advantage.

"You know what I think?", he leaned in close, not caring about how close the two clubs that Quan called hands were to his face. "I think, that you're afraid of those 'weak scum' and their head honcho. I think you're a survivor," he whispered the next sentence for dramatic effect. "I think, that you want to cuddle up to the new kids on the block."

Calm as a stone he whipped his head back, leaning back on his self made chair as the Quaker raged at him. "I'M NOT AFRAID OF HIM! HIM AND HIS FOLLOWERS ARE TOAST ONCE I OWN HALF THE CITY HE'S TRYING TO RULE!"

Realizing that his interviewee was open for business, he leaned forward again, although not enough to be in range of his hands. "And how will you accomplish this?"

The criminal practically cackled, like those yuan-a-dozen moustache stroking villains dominating the big screen. "Oh it's simple! I simply take his best squad hostage, and then I 'ask nicely' about a wonderful landmark named city hall!", he was off his rocker now, as his dark green eyes whipped all over the place, and he didn't seem to realize that Makei was now grinning. "And, ah, where is this squad?", his maddening laugh grew even louder. "That squad won't be leaving Wan Shi!"

Makei suppressed a smirk as he stood up. "My thanks Quan, you've been a big help."

He shook his head, quietly chuckling to himself as he exited the room. He walked past the guard and into the observation room. Nisha watched the raging criminal with amusement, a smirk on her face. She glanced at him as he went to stand next to her. "Sir...that was a thing of beauty."

His body was filled with wracking spasms of laughter, and he wiped a tear from his eye. "I am just too good."

Still smirking, she crossed her arms. "So, what did you find sir?"

The commander grew serious. "I couldn't get the bases from him, but I found out where a Equalist squad is going to be patrolling tonight. Quan's bright idea was to capture them and bargain with Amon for a slice of the city when he finished his little crusade. I swear rocks have thought of better plans than that one.", he shook his head in mock sadness, and turned to his lieutenant. "Come on, we'll grab Hei and a squad for a little intercept."

He pressed a button mounted next to the observation window, and watched as the square of earth beneath Quan lowered into the ground, taking him back to his cell. He exited the room, and Nisha was hot on his heels as they headed down the hallway, both of them saluting the guard nearby. "What's the location sir?"

He didn't look back as he addressed her. "Wan Shi Tong university.", she nodded and he led the way towards the elevator. As soon as they were in he pressed the second floor button, and the elevator slowly lifted up to their destination. After a bit it stopped, and a bell dinged as the doors opened, revealing a bustling hallway filled with clerks and technicians running to and fro as they tended to their duties. A few white capped nurses could be seen as well, streaming from a pair of white double doors just across from the elevator. They walked towards them, and quickly stood out of the way as a bed with a injured officer came smashing out of it, his armor was blackened and slightly melted, and his face was a mess of cuts and burns. Makei sighed as he saw yet another victim of a equalist ambush. Once the bed had rolled past them, they entered, going down a brightly lit hallway before stopping at a door that was simply marked '1'.

He knocked and a young man's voice was heard. "Hang on! I'm just getting my gear on!", confident that her commander wouldn't notice, Nisha rolled her eyes. Confident that he would hold it over his lieutenant later, Makei chose not to say anything, and silently waited just outside the door. "Alright, I'm ready!", he opened the door, and Hei jumped a little, and saluted. He gasped a little as his shoulder ached terribly from the sudden movement.

Makei stepped closer to his subordinate. "How are you feeling corporal?"

Hei sighed with relief as he relaxed, and let his arm hang by his side. "Ready for anything sir.", he was decked out in full gear, and Makei noticed that he was swaying unsteadily, still, he didn't seem to be in any major pain.

The commander nodded. "If you think you're up to it, than let's go.", he turned and walked out of the room. Nisha gave her partner a worried look. "Hei-", the corporal shook his head. "-I'm fine Nisha.", he gave her a cheesy grin, and followed in the commander's wake, leaving Nisha to sigh and think for the umpteenth time how stupid her partner could be. She rolled her eyes and left the room. They took the elevator down to the ground floor, and the doors opened to the reception lobby, standing near a row of empty seats was a group of fully armored officers, who all saluted as Makei walked over to them. One of them, who had a thick and voluminous brown moustache taking most of the space his helmet didn't cover, spoke first. "Commander, we've been briefed on the situation."

Makei nodded gruffly. "Excellent, won't waste any time than." with that he pushed the front doors open, leading them into the cold and snow filled night. A large and heavily armored truck sat nearby, it's driver snoring loudly as his face pressed down on the wheel, a sliver of drool escaping from his open mouth. Makei walked over quietly, and gave him a quick slap on the back of the head. The blow woke him up, and he saw the heavily equipped group of men and women behind the commander. He yawned and sat up straight. Makei rolled his eyes, and headed towards the back of the truck, which was open and ready to receive them. He stood next to it, and the squad hopped in, followed by Nisha, Hei, and than himself.

He stood up, and shut the vehicles doors, and secured them before reaching for the handhold above. Gripping onto it with one hand, he banged a wall with the other, and the driver got the message. With a heavy lurch the vehicle began it's journey, turning onto the road nearby, it's engine roared as it worked, and everyone in the back felt it as the speed increased. A slide near the front opened, and he could see the back of the driver's helmet. "Where am I taking you?"

Amongst the bumps and dings he brought a cupped hand to his mouth. "Drop us two blocks away from Wan Shi Tong university."

He saw the driver's head bob up and down. "Got it boss.", his hand reached back to close the slide, and the only sound presenting itself was that of metalbenders checking their spool holders, or water benders examining their canisters. Nisha and Hei were busy checking their launchers, with Hei grimacing slightly as he twisted the wrong way to check something. Makei busied himself with going over tactical options and routes of entry, as he grabbed a map from a pocket on his uniform, that showed a detailed layout of the Wan Shi Tong grounds. After a few minutes of the bumpy road, their transport stopped, and he opened his eyes as he roused himself from a doze. The sound of the slide being opened reached his ears, and the driver's voice was carried through to them. "I'm dropping you fellas here. The university is 'bout a block east."

"Understood. Right everyone out!", Makei threw open the doors and dropped out of the truck, his squad followed suit, and filed out one at a time, Hei was the last one out, and Nisha stopped to help him down. He complained - loudly - but his partner wasn't having any of it. The commander hid a smirk, a action he saw the rest of the squad take as well. Once the young man had his two boots on the ground, the group clumped together in front of Makei, as he stood at the entrance to a nearby alley.

"This alley will take us to the perimeter fence of the grounds. We'll get through it, and than split up into three groups." He gestured at three of the more lightly built members, which included Hei. "You three. Scale the buildings and make your way to the roof, from there you'll provide surveillance. When the equalist squad shows up, radio it in. If you run into any triad along the way, subdue them. Washi, take the lead.", a man with a impressively kept goatee saluted, and nodded to Hei and the third member.

"Second squad." he pointed at two strongly built men, including the man with the brown moustache, and Nisha. "You'll provide support, found a ambush point, and wait for us to engage the enemy, one we do, take them by surprise.", the three of them nodded without any hesitation. He turned to the last two members he hadn't pointed at. "You two will be with me. We'll draw out both the equalist squad _and_ the earth benders into the open, we'll distract them while second team gets into position.", they nodded in understanding.

The commander looked at his men and women, seeing the determined and professional sides reflected back, and he turned around, facing into the dark alleyway, he pointed forwards, and took off a jog, fast enough to get there fairly quickly without his gear creating a large amount of noise. The squad followed him closely, and they all turned the corner, heading towards a side street that ran directly parallel to the black fence that surrounded the university. They made their way across the small road, the snow softly crunching underfoot, and they piled up at the base of the fence.

He looked at two of his officers, and jerked his head towards the obstacle. They nodded, and moved forward, gripping one section each. They focused and breathed out, and the sections peeled away from each other, leaving a large gap for them to enter through. The squad ran through the gap, and the two officers repaired the fence, leaving a smooth unmarred wall of iron spikes once more.

They hopped over a bed of bright purple flowers, making sure not to trod them underfoot, for the university was notorious for the complaining it's officials could summon up whenever the police were involved. A flat and neat expanse of lush grass stretched out in all directions, the massive patch was a perfect rectangle in shape, and the back of the university campus made up one of it's narrow sides, with the opposite side ending at the fence side across from them ended at another flowerbed. With that they could guess the general layout of the terrain. They kept going, stopping in the middle of the light-absent field of green. The university buildings themselves were brightly lit, but that light terminated just past the outer buildings, and the rest of the grounds were almost pitch black in comparison. The squad was now looking at him, and he answered them with a nod. Hei and the two others crept off immediately, heading at speed for the corner of the nearest campus building. Nisha and the second squad headed off as well, going down the campuses opposite side, using the narrow strip of dark to their advantage.

Makei was left with two officers, and he beckoned for them to follow him. He took off at a jog for the back of the campus, taking the most direct and obvious route. Something that would easily be seen by any would-be ambushers.

The three of them crept up to a wall, and moved towards the entrance of a stone corridor that cut straight to the inner courtyard. The commander held up a closed hand, and the two officers behind him stopped in their tracks, waiting for his signal. He peered into the dimly lit corridor and nodded his head, the two of them ran inside, and he followed closely, bringing up the rear as they made their way through the narrow stretch. The dark colors of their armor almost rendered them invisible as they ran down the dark corridor, as they neared the exit to the inner courtyard Makei made a motion with his hand, and his two officers slowed down into a crouching run, to muffle their armor and to still move at a respectable speed. They stopped at the threshold, and Makei surveyed the area they were about to barge into.

Columns lined the outer edge, providing shadowed areas that would be the logical position for ambushers. The walls of the buildings these columns stood in front of held many doors, they'd be locked and barred though, according to the commanders information. Huge double doors faced each other from the sides that stood farthest to each other. They appeared sturdy, and very well built. Gas lanterns mounted on the columns lit the ground in the middle of the courtyard, spilling sickly yellow light on the cobbled stones. The commander assumed the lead again, and he hugged the wall leading to a dark corner, and stopped there, preparing to lay in wait for the equalist squad. Makei grabbed a clunky handheld radio from his hip holster, fiddling with a knob for a minute or so, he managed to find Hei's frequency.

* * *

"Yes sir?" he whispered, the unexpected call made him lose focus momentarily, and the clawed end of the wire nearly came free from it's purchase on the lip of the roof above. He carefully sidestepped a window, sure that breaking it was not in their best interests.

"Is your team on the roof yet?" the voice on the other end asked in a gruff tone. Hei found it hard to concentrate on two things at once, and found it even more difficult climbing a building with just one wire deployed. The hand that held the radio began to itch unbearably.

"Soon sir. We've just passed the fourth floor windows." he glanced at his two teammates, who were keeping roughly at the same pace with him. He noticed the dark look Washi was giving him from underneath his helmet.

"Understood, we're in position. We won't make a move until your team is on the roof. Out.", a green light on his handheld, which lit up whenever someone was speaking, had now winked off, and he hooked it back onto his belt. Relishing the new found freedom of his left hand, he tensed the wire coming from his right launcher, and held on as he raised his left arm to fire another wire. The spool spun furiously as he launched it towards the lip of the roof, it bit into the metal lining, he focused, and it melded, giving him a stronger purchase and less chance of it being dislodged. He had an easier time climbing up the wall now, and Washi and their other teammate picked up the speed, and the three of them made it to the roof in quick succession. Hei rolled over the lip, disengaging his wires as he stood up. The others came into view a few seconds later, Hei waited for Washi's order. The moustached officer gestured towards the other side of the roof, which overlooked the inner courtyard. Hei and his teammate nodded, and crouch-ran, trying not to slip on the wet roof.

"Tenma, got the binoculars?" Hei asked. His friend nodded, handing them to him, he turned away to look down at the courtyard, squinting slightly at how brightly lit it was compared to the rest of the grounds. Washi knelt by their side, rubbing his chin as he surveyed the area below.

"For thugs, they're good at keeping out of sight." he noted. Hei peered through the binoculars, focusing on the brightly lit courtyard. "I'm betting they're hidden in the buildings, seems the best spot to hide. The sergeant nodded. "Sound thinking, but it's all a bit...high-brow...for badger mole members. We'll just have to observe until they make their move.", Hei looked away from the binoculars and nodded. "Yes sergeant. I'll radio the commander about our findin- wait! Look!", he put the binoculars to his eyes again, and he focused on a pair of tall doors that led into the brightly lit courtyard. It had opened a sliver. The noise it made when it swung on it's hinges carried even to them, and he spotted a pair of green lenses.

Washi sighed. "Hei I can't see what you see without the binoculars.", Hei tossed them to him without a word, and he looked through them. After a second he brought them back down, handing them back to Hei. "Get on the horn corporal.", the young man nodded and keyed his handheld again.

"Sir-"

"I see them corporal, seven of them."

* * *

Makei turned to one of his officers. "Jelong, we need to find out how many triad members are here.", the gaunt faced young man nodded, and raised a foot off the ground, the sole of his boot slid upwards, and his tan colored skin was visible. He stomped downwards, and touched two fingers to the ground. His vision changed to a sepia tone, and he could see at least ten bright human shaped lights nearby, all standing just behind the closed doors of the courtyard. He drew his fingers back, and his vision returned to normal again.

"Sir, there are ten of them in our immediate vicinity, all hidden inside the buildings." Julong said in his abnormally deep voice. Makei nodded, addressed the two of them. "We can't move until the ambushers have sprung their trap, we're outnumbered until first team and second team get here. We do this the smart way, got it?" they nodded, and Makei watched as the first of the equalists had reached the center of the courtyard. The green lenses scanned the shadow recesses between the columns, the wearer didn't seem to see them, as he continued walking, prompting the rest of the squad to flow through the doors after him. From his hiding place, Makei saw that four of them had foregone wearing a mask, and had uniquely designed outfits.

One of them was large, very large, and had no sleeves to conceal his well toned and boulder sized muscles. He wore a dark leather jerkin, and a massive, viciously bladed sword was visible on his back. His pale and bald head was shiny, catching the light thrown from the gas lanterns around them, and his golden eyes watched the shadows vigilantly. For a mountain of meat made animate, he moved quite fluidly, showing no indication that he was carrying a piece of metal weighing upwards of ten kilograms.

The girl behind him was insanely alluring, with beautifully crafted features that made her look more art piece than human. She wore a tight fitting bodysuit, and a orange scarf was wrapped around her neck. Two strangely designed nunchaku hung from her belt, the ends holding iron spheres rather than rods. Her eyes were the color of slate, and she moved like the wind.

The third of their number, was tall and thin of body, his skin was a deep brown, and his hair was held in a single braid. Two tiny sized crossbows hung from his belt, and his hands were never far away from them. He had small, piercing blue eyes, that were perpetually squinting. The last among them, was a hard faced woman, smooth lines visible on her face, denoting her as a middle aged adult. She had deep, almost black brown eyes, and she wore no weapons on her person, save for a few cylinders on her belt. Her hands were obscured by heavy, black leather gauntlets, and her graying hair was held in ponytail.

The group stopped in a tight clump in the center of the courtyard, and Makei saw a door thrown open nearby, and a earth bender ran out of it, this was repeated with the other doors as well, as nine more of them ran into the courtyard, surrounding the equalists. They didn't stop to exchange pleasantries, and the ten of them stomped at the same time. A wall of earth rose up around the squad, boxing them in, immediately a quartet of grenades were thrown over the wall, one for each side. They bounced and tinked across the cobbled stone among the closing earth benders, and they didn't notice them, too engaged in roaring and boasting loudly as to how 'easily' they had caught the top equalist squad.

The grenades detonated together, their payloads combining into a single massive cloud of green gas which enveloped the entire courtyard. Makei nodded at his two officers, and pulled a black fold of heavy fabric up and over his face, so that it covered everything below his eyes. Jelong and their comrade did the same, both of them giving him a thumbs up. Makei's speech was slightly muffled as he spoke quietly to the both of them. "Jelong, head around the western edge, stick to the shadows, take a position near the doors.", Jelong nodded and stalked away, sticking to the wall as he crept towards his position. The commander turned to his remaining officer. "Ishi, use the eastern edge, and take a position near the other doors.", Ishi nodded wordlessly, and moved off as well, his dark armor giving Makei a hard time at spotting him.

The cloud of green began to waft towards him, and even through the thickened material, he wrinkled his nose at the putrid smell, but didn't let it distract him. He stopped for a moment, as a chunk of rock slammed into the wall in front of him, he waited in case the thrower was still watching, and kept moving, working his way to a recess that gave him a view of the entire courtyard. He looked at the doors nearby, seeing Jelong in position, he checked the other ones as well, seeing Ishi crouched next to them. He fished out his hand held, and spoke into it.  
"Might want to get down here Hei."

He nodded. And Jelong crept towards the melee, heading out from the cover of the columns. Across the rectangular space Ishi copied his movement, and they both advanced towards the fighting criminals. From his position, Makei let out a sharp yell, and ran forwards towards the center of the fighting, his four wires dangling behind him. A surprised earth bender materialized out of the thick green soup, and Makei headbutted him immediately, felling the man as he cried out in pain.

Another one behind him, one of his wires whipped around the thug's midriff, and pushed him into a column nearby, knocking him out of the fight. Another came at him, his hands punching towards him from five feet away, the commander felt the earth between them shudder, as a path of upturned cobblestone ran towards him, aiming to knock him into the air. He side stepped the novice tactic, whipping another wire at the man, it wrapped around his hands, and he pulled it, jerking the man roughly into the ground, he clocked his head on a stone, and was still.

In the space of thirty seconds, Makei had just evened the odds. He heard the sounds of other wires and spools nearby, signifying that Ishi and Jelong had joined in as well, pressing on the groups flanks. He saw shadows of movement towards the center of the cloud, and two green lenses settled in front of him, and a disc shaped object was whipping towards twist to the side came too late, and the object wrapped around his chest, thin snaking tendrils keeping the disc flat against him.

The center of the disc crackled with electricity, and it released this payload onto his metal armor. He gritted his teeth as he felt spasms throughout his body, and moved to pull it off of him, but was interrupted by a boot to the face, he was sent sprawling to the ground, and as soon as he stopped, another one came crashing towards him. Still in agony from the pain, he clumsily rolled to avoid it, while his hands picked at the tendrils keeping the device in place. One of them fell away, the flimsy wiring frayed and split, soon two more followed, and this was enough for it to release it's electrifying hold on the commander, as it clattered to the ground.

He was up immediately, vision slightly swimming from the shock of the attack. His wires regained their strength and tension, and he narrowed his gaze at the chi blocker in front of him. The man seemed to grow smaller in size in his sight, and took a step back. Just as Makei was about to come to a decision about breaking a few of his bones, a wire flew from the sky, and wrapped around him, bringing him to his knees, the equalist tried to squirm and wriggle his way out, but a current of electricity bounded down it's length, shocking him into compliance.

He felt the earth shudder slightly as three pairs of boots landed nearby. Washi walked towards him, his arm held out as he kept the tension on the wire that held the chi blocker captive. The sound of wood scraping against stone made him look towards one of the double doors, noticing that it was being opened from the outside. Three armored figures were visible as it opened fully, revealing Nisha and second squad. They ran towards the struggle immediately, and Ishi and Jelong ran to his side, the nine officers formed a loose circle around the four still-standing combatants, the giant watched them calmly, his golden eyes showing no hints of fear or urgency, or for that matter compliance. The young girl had her arms folded, and her eyes were impassive, and looking for hints of weakness among the officers. The tall one casually reloaded his crossbow pistols, hanging them on his belt, and drew out a cigarette, and brought a brass colored lighter to the brown half's edge, impregnating the tobacco with a bright warm orange glow, he brought to his lips, and it hung there lazily, giving Makei the impression the man just didn't _care_. The fourth equalist, the hard edged woman, scowled as she looked at him, her lips twisting into a snarl.

The commander gestured, and each officer shot a wire towards the other, the ends of each one wrapped around another, forming a makeshift lasso made of tendrils and humans. He walked forwards, his hands calmly held behind his back as he surveyed their four trapped criminals. The courtyard was devoid of noise, natural or man-made, apart from the quiet groaning and whispered blubbering of the badger mole thugs, it could almost be called peaceful.

"I came here tonight to ask you all a question, if I may.", if the equalist squad was surprised at his motive, they were very good at showing none of it. The middle aged woman answered him first. "Ten earth benders down, for a question? This aught to be good.", he grinned inwardly.

She struck him as the motherly caretaker of the little squad.

"My friends and I would just like to know where Amon keeps all of his little toys, and VIPs."

"And that's it?", she said mockingly, "You thought you'd ask _nicely _where we keep our airships?", he chuckled to himself, she was very perceptive. "Well," he shrugged. "There's always option B.", he leaned forwards, "I hear prison cells can get very comfortable after six years."

She tilted her head, and Makei absently noted how lovely her skin was when the light caught it just so. Although her tongue was another matter. "And I suppose you want me to tell you when the attack begins as well?"

He chuckled. "If you'd kindly."

"Not convincing me here.", the giant bent down towards her, and whispered something in her ear. She scowled, but nodded. "Fine. Wushan mountain, western peak, very well fortified. _Have fun_. Oh, and the attack? Republic City has three days.", she held up a hand, and the tall guy dropped a canister at their feet, white smoke billowed outwards, and Makei and his officers were blinded, unable to see anything.

After a short while the gas cleared, and they were gone, leaving the officers, and the unconcious thugs behind. Makei sighed, and made a gesture, ordering his officers to round them up and call for pickup.

* * *

_Police Headquarters._

He stood near the stairs, watching closely as the line of fresh prisoners were shepherded down the corridor, and into separate wooden cells. The occupant of the one at the end was shouting and raging, and Makei guessed that Quan had finally twigged onto what happened. He shook his head, and headed up the stairs to the lobby, passing Nisha and Hei along the way, they both saluted him, although Nisha had a strange look in her eye, almost like she was accusing him of something, he shrugged it away and continued until he reached the reception desk, running into the last two people he ever thought he'd be seeing down here.

"Lin? Tenzin?"

They looked up from a sheet of paper on the counter in front of them, with Tenzin laying the pencil down next to it. Lin was still dressed in her armor, something he kind of thought would happen, especially with her. Never wanted to feel vulnerable. He clamped down on his surprise, and nodded to both of them. His surprise fought it's way into the open however, when Lin's face cracked into a warm smile, and gave him a quick hug. His eyebrow never left it's lofty perch as she stepped back, studying him. She gained some composure, and cleared her throat. "Commander."

"What are you two doing here?"

Tenzin decided to answer him. "Trying to find Korra, been unsuccessful so far."

Makei nodded, sympathizing. "As have we, what we do know is that she isn't in the city."

"Figures, we infiltrated a equalist hideout, turns out they don't have her." Lin added. Makei was surprised at that one. "Strange.", he noticed Tenzin's features had a dark outlook on them. "We think Tarrlok may be keeping her hostage Mak.", if they were waiting for a shocked and flabbergasted look from him, they would be sorely disappointed. "Eh it figures the slimy bastard would do something dumb like that."

Lin's eyes were drawn to the last four earth benders being led down the stairs nearby. "Had a good haul tonight?", the commander nodded. "Quan's boys were planning on ambushing one of Amon's squads, holding them hostage to get a piece of the city from him. Didn't pan out."

"Who was with you?"

"Nisha, Hei and a few others."

"Thought as much. You have a soft spot for those two.", he got a bit defensive. "They're good officers.", Lin chuckled at his face, and he sighed, berating himself for falling into that so willingly. Tenzin coughed. "Lin, we'd better head to city hall now, we wait any longer and the kids will annoy us.", she sighed and nodded. "Yeah. Commander.", they turned away and left the desk, leaving him on his own thoughts for a moment.

Now, he was sure he got the wrong impression. But kids?


	15. The Village, and The Ghosts

Suffice it to say, riding as a passenger on a motorcycle was much more harrowing then it looks. For one thing, Tai was in a precariously bolted-on sidecar, and his head was level with the two-wheeler's (technically a three- wheeler) gas tank and engine block. Needless to say, that wasn't a good position to be in while traveling along winding roads through the dead of night at 200/mph. He wondered how Boto had managed to coax the engine not to fall apart at that speed.

When he mentioned his observations to Sensha, she merely made fun of him and teased him, saying he was a sissy. He shut up immediately, emasculated and feeling very sorry for himself. The road they were on had been running straight for the past hour or so, having cleared the hills that surrounded the city, forming the frontier of large scale buildings and districts. The confrontation with Tarrlok at the station happened two hours ago, just before sun down, and Tai was growing increasingly unsettled and angry.

He knew Gujong had no reason to lie to them, and Boto did know which village he meant. It was nerves mainly; he was worried that Tarrlok had already dumped Korra into a truck, driven off, and would be across the border by tomorrow afternoon. Although even then, he wouldn't quit on her.

His thoughts were dashed from his focus when Boto guided them down a right hand turn, coming onto a road that soon devolved into a dusty and very bumpy trail that ran upwards, climbing the slope of the mountain that shadowed this stretch of the highway. The vegetation around grew gradually thicker, as seeds had more room to grow the further away they got from the highway, and where they were less people to curb their progress. The road delved into a sea of tall and eerie trees, a good many of them stripped bare of their leaves, leaving only spindly branches to stretch and point to the night time sky. Tai caught glimpses of a lake nearby, with a thin fog hovering just above its surface, he only noticed it was even there because of the cold lights shining on its surface, coming from the blurry image of a small shack that stood on the shore. The dirt track carried them away from it however, and his view was replaced with wounding turns and tall and grim trees, which most likely held all manner of shadowy secrets in their midst.

The slope took a sharp incline, and he heard the engine's difficulties as it coped with the new angle it had to motor up. Fortunately it leveled out as they reached the top of the slope, and the forest of skeleton trees ended rather jarringly, giving way to a large open space, with fields full of flowers, their petals were billowy, and the color of the moon. They looked almost ethereal and otherworldly, and even though the wind that blew through the area was fast and strong, they never changed their own movement, merely bobbing up and down, while their long petals traced quiet and graceful arcs in the air, going through the moves of a dance unseen by human eyes.

Tai sensed Sensha's unease, and felt the very same, Boto was relatively unchanged, but even he had a small twinge of discomfort at their eerie surroundings.

"It's very… peaceful… here." Sensha stated.

"I have a feeling it won't be for long." Boto stated with a cynical tone. Tai was silent, busy quietly marveling at the elegant and serene field of flowers. The motorcycle found a small slope that gradually crept upwards, at a very small incline, and they crested the small hill, and a collection of white stoned buildings rose up out of the field of white. The layout was peculiar, and Tai guessed that if they approached from any other side, it would still appear to be perfectly lined up, with the whole collection being the shape of a perfect square. Either the inhabitants were perfectionists, or this was some kind of display village.

"I heard about this town, but I've never seen it before. They were right, it Is creepy." Boto said. Tai glanced at him, unsettled by this little snippet of backstory. "What _did_ they say about it exactly?"

"It was meant to be the picture of a perfect town, some kind of pet project the earth kingdom council member put everything into. Only it never reached what he had in mind, and mainly, it's used as accommodations for athletes and visiting sports stars when the world games are on. Even then, they prefer the apartments in the city than staying here."

"Why?"

Boto sighed. "Because the foreman in charge of the project mysteriously disappeared on completion, never found again. Police combed the area but came up with nothing. So people did their own investigating, and pretty soon, they ended up gone as well. This place has a bad rep."

"How cheery." Tai deadpanned.

"I've heard stories about it from the other students at the university. I'm leaving it at that." Sensha said.

"Everything about this place is bad news."

They could all agree on that. The guttural growl of the motorcycle's engine shattered the serene stillness that stifled that town, and if anyone was awake, or if any old timer was around, the three teens were going to find out any minute now. Boto drove them deeper into town, going past houses board with planks, slathered in faded green paint. Graffiti covered the side passages and narrow gaps between buildings, and an abandoned and rusted satomobile was parked in front of one of the houses, having sat there a long time.

The overall feeling of the town was that of unease, and stilled life. More importantly, it felt dangerous, and it presented a malevolence that pervaded the very air. The small road widened out into the town's square, which housed a large fountain at it's center. It's shape was circular, and the water held in the white rock was still and black, and would most likely be unsafe to drink from. Boto brought the motorcycle to a halt near it, and dismounted first.

"We need a stretch before we head up there, no clue what we'll find."

Sensha dismounted as well, and Tai got out of his too-small seat, agreeing with Boto about that stretch. He checked that the clasp on his sword belt was secure, and decided to walk around the fountain, shaking off the fatigue in his leg muscles. He shivered a little as the cold air hit him, he fished for something in one his pockets, and found what he was looking for. He pulled them on, relishing the warm pockets of air inside the gloves, that warmed him up considerably. Now that they weren't moving at a fast speed, they would feel the cold's bite much more acutely. As he circled the fountain's edge, he noticed that it held a perfectly square gap in the middle, giving the whole construction the shape of the old earth kingdom sigil.  
Definitely a earth bender's pet project then.

He found himself looking down at the still water, and was surprised at what he saw looking back. A boy, about his height, about his age, and about his shape. That was the same. But the sunken bags, the haggard look, the bruises and cuts, the way he held himself. His black coat hung off of him loosely, almost like there was nothing underneath it. Right now, he could have been passed as a refugee on the road. Even worse, his hair was limpid and scruffy, and he doubted he smelt any better than he looked.

He was getting beaten down, bit by bit, and he wasn't sure how long he could keep this up.

A disc of white was visible on it's calm surface, looking right back at the moon above, dots of light coated it as well, all in all, for a fountain in the middle of a ghost town, it was surprisingly beautiful. He sighed and sat down on the stone edging, feeling fatigue and tiredness flare up all over his muscles. He found himself unable to keep his eyes open, and nearly dozed off, as his eyes were about close he noticed a white glint reflecting on the water's surface. His eyes widened, and he whipped his head up, seeing a missile of ice spearing towards his face. He jerked out of the way, falling roughly to the ground. He picked himself up as best as he could, and Sensha and Boto ran to his side.

On three rooftops sitting next to each other, a figure stood up, and dropped to the ground, the moonlight reflecting off of their ice colored armor and thick fur coats. They all were varying shades of brown, and their eyes varying shades of blue. Boto growled as he saw them, particularly when one of them walked forwards, grinning imperiously.

"Long time no see, Boto.", the one in the middle said. He strode forwards again, his hands stuck in the massive pockets on his light blue greatcoat. It looked like it was made of a heavy material, and no doubt was meant for arctic level weather. The collar was lined with a sleek white edging of fur, piled on thick. The sleeves were wide, and it would be easy to conceal all manner of weapons in them. The young man wearing the finely made article of clothing smiled lazily the whole time, a silver tooth visible in the corner of his mouth. His eyes seemed to sparkle under the full moon, and the beads and silver clips that kept his hair in a neat and pretentious braid, gleamed under it's light. Everything about him screamed money, and ambition.

His hands shook as he glared at the young man. "Tonrik.", the young man's eyes widened in mocking shock. "Is that how you're supposed to greet an old buddy of yours? I was so heartbroken when you left us at the south pole."

"Save it, I'm no friend of yours."

"So serious as well, you haven't changed one _bit_.", he blinked and noticed Tai and Sensha standing next to Boto, he grinned that infuriating smile again. "My apologies. My name is Tonrik.", he gestured to his two cohorts. "And that's Pendra and Yurig. We're old friends of Boto's.", Sensha folded her arms, and rolled her eyes. "Right. Throwing a spike at my friend's head is what old friends are _for_."

"Why are you here, Tonrik?" Boto asked, staring accusingly at him. Tonrik sighed. "Alright take it easy Boto. We're just here to stop you from getting to Tarrlok, that's all.", he glanced at Sensha with a approving look in his eyes. "By the way..._love_ the company you keep. I like em' fiery.", Sensha felt an involuntary shiver go down her spine. Boto glared at him with even more intensity. "Don't even think of it!"

The young man threw up his hands in a mock apology. "Why whatever do you mean? It's just a compliment.", he rolled his eyes, and glanced at the full moon. A group of ice spikes materialized out of the air behind him, pointed at the group. "Kill them.", his two cohorts advanced, the one on his left, a boy about Tai's height and age, moved a hand in a straight horizontal line through the icy air, and a sword, made of ice and with a curved and wicked blade, appeared in his hand. He wore brown seal skin gloves, explaining why he was able to grab the sword and hold it with ease. His eyes were dark and cold, and unlike his leader's pretentious looks, he was practically clothed and average looking.

Tai noticed the weapon, and drew his out as well, holding it firmly in his right hand. Tonrik glanced him, and the ice missiles angled towards him, their sharp tips now staring at him. They flew forwards towards him, a few shattering uselessly on the ground as he side stepped them. One spun him around, but he managed to recover, in time to block a overhead slice from Yurig. He brought his other hand around, with his palm open, he blasted him in the side, and the water tribe assassin was knocked off balance, and fell to the ground. He took this chance to move away from the open space. He ran towards one of the buildings nearby, clearing the five meter gap between the ground and it's roof with a little air bending. He stopped once he touched down, and looked down at Yurig, whose face was livid as he ran after the air bender.

He poked his tongue out and ran, leaping across the rooftops, deeper into town.

Boto ran forward, side stepping each missile of ice that Tonrik threw at him. As soon as he got in close enough, Tonrik formed a water whip, and it slashed towards his chest. He dropped to the ground, rolling underneath it. As he rose back up, his fist did so as well, and it crashed into the pretentious chin of his foe. Tonrik grunted and stumbled back a step, but grinned, and whipped his boot around, catching Boto in his side. Luckily his armor softened the blow, but it had also distracted him. A water whip came at him from the opposite direction, and wrapped around him in a constricting grip. It lifted him into the frigid air, and Tonrik squeezed his grip. Boto gritted his teeth as he felt the gel like tendril constrict further and further, and his vision began to dim.

A slice of fire cut the tendril, and immediately it's tension was gone, and Boto dropped to the ground. He made a few arcing movements, and water materialized out of the air around him, and settle into a pool at his feet. Six tendrils rose up around him, and he faced off against Tonrik. He nodded at Sensha, who intercepted a icy spike meant for Boto, melting it with a wave of her hand. She ran towards Pendra, the water bender was angry, and she yelled, throwing block after block of ice at her. Sensha slipped past them easily, and wreathed her hand in a sheath of fire, and went to jab her in the chest. She caught the change in the water bender's eyes, from angry to calm, and she realised her mistake. The girl grabbed both of her wrists, and squeezed, the pain broke her control and the flames winked out, leaving her at Pendra's mercy.

Pendra's face twisted into a horrifying smile, and Sensha could only watch as her feet were encased in thick ice. She couldn't move, and was about to yell for help when a fist flew into her cheek, knocking her to the ground. Her hands were paralyzed inside the freeze, but her head wasn't. She took a deep breath, concentrating, and soon enough, rivulets of water began to drip off of the ice block's surface as it gradually grew smaller and smaller. Small flakes of ice began to break away, and one of Sensha's hands came free, immediately she gathered a ball of fire in her palm, and held it to her other hand.

Her enemy snarled and took a step towards her, and the air in front of her hands grew heavy with tiny ice crystals. The whole structure gave way, and she rolled to avoid the ice darts, and ran as fast as she could, heading into the side streets of the town. The water bender gave chase, snarling and yelling the whole time.

The square held only two now, and both of them were too busy to notice. Boto leaned back, the trail of cold air left by the spike of ice biting at his nose a bit. He gathered a ball of water, and threw it towards Tonrik, he twisted to avoid it, and it splashed harmlessly onto the ground nearby. He responded with two water whips, Boto couldn't move from the pool of water, he focused, and one of his tendrils whipped towards the two whips, slamming into them, he glanced at two more tentacles on his left, they shot forward, aiming to wrap around Tonrik's right wrist and ankle. Only one connected though, and he was thrown to the ground, being pulled down by his ankle.

Despite his position, his mouth continued to be a source of Boto's annoyance. And his face completed that by giving him a visual image to punch repeatedly. "So you've got some moves?", he laughed and with a wave of the hand, Boto's whip was gone, and a fist of water slammed into his chest, sending him flying across the square, he slid across the slick stone, coming to a rest near the fountain.

"Sorry, that won't be enough." Tonrik chuckled as he walked towards his prone form. Boto tried to get up, but could only grit his teeth as the pain came ten fold. His eyes flashed with inspiration as he neared the fountain, and he waved a hand lazily. Boto felt a tendril of water wrap around his neck, and he gurgled and sputtered as he was lifted into the air. Tonrik stopped in front of him, a lazy smirk on his face. "I think I'll make this one slow, treat myself to something _special_."

Boto couldn't answer, he didn't want to either, he turned to focusing on easing the tension of the water around his neck. He swallowed, aware of how painful it was to do. The arrogant teen in front of him began to pace back and forth a little, and Boto chuckled to himself, somewhere in the back of his head.

He still hadn't learned from the last time they met.

The teen waggled a finger, managing to make even _that_ small movement impossibly pretentious. "You know, I think what Tarrlok did down in the pole was the right thing. After all, couldn't have a man like that running around, making life difficult for us all could we?", he smiled a little, knowing that comment would have made Boto's blood boil, and make him thrash around in anger. He scowled, as all that he saw looking down at him was a mask of calm and determination. He didn't notice that the whip's hold was loosening.

He continued his monologue, much to Boto's chagrin. "So how's Korra doing? She still interested in me?", Boto couldn't resist bursting out in laughter, now that the water whip's hold lessened enough for him to speak freely. "That's a good one, no really, you should go into stand up, you'll give Amon a run for his money!", too incensed to notice the tenous grip of of his water whip, his brown skin went a shade of red. "Maybe I'll pay her a visit once I'm done with you and your pals!"

"Go for it, I'm _dying_ to see what happens.", Boto's laughs grew even louder, and if the town was inhabited, they would be angry and slightly peeved off. Tonrik's eyes flashed dangerously, and Boto knew he had him now. "Who knows? Maybe she'll _like it_."

Boto's laughter grew louder and stronger still.

* * *

Tai had to keep up every appearance that he was fit and well.

He laughed at every chance he got, taunted with whatever insulting phrase came to mind, chuckled when the infuriated assassin just missed him. He couldn't keep it up forever. Underneath the whipping black coat, was a body dotted with bruises and scratches, heavy with fatigue and exhaustion, and drained of energy and vibrancy. His mind wasn't doing much better either. That fatigue dulled his senses, that exhaustion crept up after every thought, and the niggling concern for his friend constantly hounded his every act.

Had to keep up the appearance.

His laughter carried across the still air, as he sidestepped a vicious flurry of icy spikes, which shattered uselessly into the shed wall nearby. His sword was safely sheathed in his scabbard, as he needed both hands to clear each gap. At his full strength, he could have leaped across them with no assistance at all, but as the chase, and the long night, wore on him, he required air bending to get him through this. He hid his flagging breath with laughter as he cleared another gap, stumbling a little as his bruised ankle protested. He didn't linger, and kept going, his body was out of energy and was running on fumes, so he substituted with determination.

A large roof greeted his bobbing vision, he threw his arms towards the ground, and let forth a violent pulse of air, sending him across the gap and onto the recieving roof with ease. He couldn't go on, and he stopped, taking as many breaths as he could before the assassin inevitably caught up. He glanced behind him, and saw no one there, no fuming presence chasing after him. He noticed that he was quite a few roof tops away from the town square now, and briefly wondered how his friends were doing. He was interrupted, by a foot to the face, he didn't register it instantly, being as exhausted as he was.

He crashed to the ground, and gasped in pain. He was on his back, facing the eerily beautiful night sky, and realized with some urgency he couldn't reach his scabbard. The moon's light caught the edge of Yurig's icy blade, as he walked towards Tai, a scowl on his face. Tai coughed and sputtered as he propped himself up with his elbow. His vision swam as he regarded the serious assassin.

"Great chase wasn't it?"

The teen didn't respond immediately, and held his ice sword in front of him, getting ready for a killing blow. "Not my call."

"Well make it your call. You barely know me, why do it?"

"None of your business. I have to."

"Really? The very guy who's forcing you to do this, is cowering in a cabin up that mountain, we can stop him from hurting you as well."

The blade faltered slightly. "It's not me he's going to hurt.", he blinked twice, than shook his head. "I have to do this."

"You sure about that?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"Fine, give in then.", the blade was lowered, and the boy had a confused look on his face. "Wha-what?"

"Give in. Smite me, I'm sure he'll keep his word when you do."

"Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"Stop that!"

"I'm just trying to reason with you. My name is Tai, by the way."

"Stop it!", the sword was wavering significantly, and Yurig was now glaring at him. Tai smirked, and opened his mouth wide, almost like he was about to yawn. Despite himself the assassin arched an eyebrow, and was knocked off balance by the massive blast of air Tai had launched from his mouth. It slammed into his sword hand, knocking the ice weapon away and sending it sliding across the roof. Tai stood up and drew his own sword, pointing straight at the boy's throat.

"I've got some trick-", the boy's foot lashed out, and kicked his sword from his grasp, the air grew heavy with ice crystals, and another blade appeared in Yurig's hands. He smirked with dark intent, and Tai quickly took the initiative, and ducked under his slash. He stuck his foot out, and as the other boy stepped forwards, he toppled over it, flailing for a bit before regaining his composure. By this time Tai had already rolled towards his sword, albeit clumsily, as he popped back up with his sword in hand, and a determined glint in his eye, he realised he was already fighting the urge to gulp in great gasps of air, and his muscles were already turning into something resembling lead. Still, at least he didn't need to run now.

No more words were traded, only blows. Yurig feinted to the right, while Tai sidestepped the ruse to get a bit closer, he raised his hand and fired off a few blasts of air, buffeting the waterbender. He responded by holding his arm out from him, with his palm facing skyward. A cloud of ice crystals formed, and then seperated into little knives, he than sent them whizzing towards Tai, who was forced to turn away from them for a second, so that they shattered harmlessly against the thick material coat, Yurig didn't give him any respite, and ran forwards with his ice sword in one hand, and a newly formed parrying dagger in the other. Tai nearly tripped as he danced backwards, and he flailed his arms. The dagger struck him along the side, and he gasped as the cold surface sliced him, drawing blood from the painful, but luckily shallow, wound. He twisted to the side, dodging the larger blade, and he lashed out with his own, hoping to catch him on the arm or leg.

He was rewarded with a yowl, and the two blades disappeared, having lost cohesion. A massive hunk of ice slammed into his chest, and he was thrown back by the force, sliding to a halt near the edge of the roof. His thoughts were in shambles, and he finally gave in to his body's demands, and, as his vision finally began to blacken into blissful unconsciousness, he saw a pale blue shadow drop off of the other edge of the roof. His sword was nearby, barely out of reach for his fingertips. He really didn't feel like moving right now.

* * *

Sensha fought the urge to yelp as a block of ice rushed towards her head. She ducked, and dived through a abandoned food stall, wrinkling her nose slightly as she passed over the rotten fruit and cabbages on it's surface. She rolled to mitigate the impact on the hard stone, and she continued her flight, gasping slightly as she felt the effects of blood bending on her body. Occassionally her muscles would stop or jar, and her joints would ache, but the most terrifying moments where when she felt a creeping wave of numbness roll from the tips of her body inwards, and she realised why it was the forbidden art.

She shook it off, and turned into a nearby side alley. She was thankful for the dark that engulfed, although still mindful that it was a temporary respite. She heard a crazed whisper, and she slowed her breathing, a hard task for one so tired.

"Wheeere arrrre youuu?"

Her blood froze a little, but she kept a determined front. She watched the entrance to the alley, and didn't blink at all. A woman's shadow showed itself, melding partially with the darkened grounds, but standing out in sharp relief on the moon-washed street. The shadow was long, but the stalking movements were still visible, and she silently asked that she not look down this alley.

A deranged, brown face poked around the corner, and stared at her with wide, blue eyes. She didn't wait for her to speak or taunt, but wheeled her arm, and summoned a wave of fire that roared towards the entrance of the alley. The waterbender calmy pulled her head from view as the fire billowed out into the street, and Sensha used the hazard to run further into her hideaway. Her hand shot out to grab the corner of the wall, and she pulled, wrenching herself around the corner, as the shadows grew longer, and threatened to swallow her, she felt her breath flag, and her legs deadening. She took in great gulps of air to fuel herself, and spotted an open shutter, leading into a darkened and abandoned home, without hesitation she dived through it, and cried out as she felt a broken shard of ceramic slice into her palm, immediately she bit down on her tongue, and clamped her mouth shut. She backed up against the cabinet behind her, and drew her legs close, her knees almost touching her chin. Her breathing was getting more and more ragged, and she felt a tear roll down her cheek, from the pain that the deep cut was giving her.

She tried desperately to calm herself down, and focused on the dusty floor in front of her, trying to push the pain behind a mental wall so that she could focus on surviving the crazed woman outside. She glanced at her palm, and slowed her breathing. She felt the urge to scratch as her wound itched like crazy, but she quickly stamped it down, and instead focused on her other hand, closing it into a fist, leaving only her index finger extended. She looked around herself for a moment, making no sound apart from her frenzied breathing and licked her lips, suddenly realising how dry they were, she swallowed and covered the tip of her extended finger with a single jet of blue flame, silently casting wavering light in the murky room. She held it over the deep and ugly cut on her palm, and winced. She took a deep breath and touched it to her cut, it seared and burned, and she desperately wanted to scream, to drown out the immense pain, but she gritted her teeth, and dragged it along the cut, searing the rented skin and the bloody wound shut.

After a few heart pounding moments she finally stopped, unable to continue. The flame on her finger winked out, and she looked away from her palm, not wanting to see her handiwork. A sound outside made her widen her eyes, and she sat as still as she could. Every fiber of her body told her to run, but every fiber in her brain made her stay put. Everything was quiet, and a single, desperate though flickered across her mind.

Did she give up?

The cabinet door next to her exploded, as the tip of a massive icicle punched through the rotting wood, with what little light the room had reflecting and dancing through it's twisted, murky structure. She was up and running immediately, and quickly ducked her head as another spike flew through the open window, flung from an open, brown-skinned palm. It's owner, smiled, and another one materialized, she ducked and ran for the door, accidentally ripping it off the wall as the rusted hinges died, she ran out into a deserted street, and turned right, aiming to lead her back to the town square. She was hoping that Boto had dealt with that idiot by now.

She heard the sound of cracking stone somewhere behind her, and she immediately leaped to the right, landing roughly on the foot path. She was up and running, throwing blasts of flame behind her shoulder to deter her pursuer. She was answered with a derisive laugh, and the sound of water being frozen into ice, and she ducked her head again, as a pair of ice spikes rushed over her. She stopped for a moment, and turned to face the crazed bender, she threw her arms back, and she narrowed her eyes.

Another laugh answered her, as Sensha faced her attacker. As she grinned off-puttingly, a cluster of ice missiles materialized above her head, and her blue eyes flashed with untold fathoms of crazy. "Had enough of running!"

Sensha put on a brave and derisive front. And laughed. "Depends, you think you'll be able to finally hit me?", she chuckled, and Pendra's face went a deep shade of red, and the girl swore she could see steam coming out of her nostrils. She roared, and the missiles flung themselves forwards, their fast passage making the air whistle as they speared towards Sensha.

She smirked, and flung her hands forwards, and a massive stream of fire, as wide as the road, rushed forwards, utterly consuming the icy spears as it moved towards the water-bender. The crazed woman stopped laughing and growled, before collecting moisture from the air, and drew it around herself, the wall of fire engulfed her, and Sensha didn't even stop to wince before she turned and ran down the street, her passage guided by the fountain statue poking above a cluster of buildings to her right.

* * *

The massive glow of the firestorm glinted off of the fast approaching ice spikes, and Boto whipped his head to the right, deftly avoiding the sharp points. As he dodged, his arms worked a stream of water out of the air, molding it into several thick tendrils, the left over water collected at his feet, forming an almost perfect circular pool. His newly created tentacles rose out of the pool at eight different points, and he stood still for a moment, regarding Tonrik with a smirk.

Tonrik growled and more ice spikes summoned themselves, and he threw all of them, en masse, towards Boto. Instantly his tentacles went to work, and the spikes found themselves being wrenched out of the air and redirected, or snapped into two, or even being converted into more mass for the tentacles. He growled again, and flung his arms to the right, launching into a full body spin that drew in large amounts of moisture from the air. It collected into a sphere of water, and he sprinted towards Boto. The young man acted quickly, and his tentacles all took positions in front of him, forming a rolling, and moving wall that the sphere collided into with massive force. Boto grunted with the effort to keep the tentacles together, and found himself being pushed back a few steps, as the sphere spun it's way through, the rapidly moving water partially masking the smug look in Tonrik's eyes.

His tentacles began to falter, as the ball picked up force and velocity. One of them broke, and he was nearly forced off of his feet. He felt a intense pressure in his head, and one by one his tentacles began to fold before the sphere. Coming up with an idea, he moved to his right, taking the pressure off of his four remaining tentacles. He threw his arms forwards, and angled them to the right, and his tentacles mimicked his action. They wrapped themselves around the right hemisphere of the ball, and Tonrik's eyes widened in surprise. Gritting his teeth, Boto commanded his tentacles to fling the ball into the fountain, his opponent sensed the move, and quickly burst out of the sphere, gathering some of it's mass into more ice spikes. Boto quickly absorbed the sphere's mass, and a ring of tentacles grew around him, and the ice spikes shattered harmlessly against their slick surface.

Tonrik took a few steps back, breathing heavily. Boto's focus was broken, when he saw Sensha running towards him from a side street nearby, Tonrik retreated back as far as he could, and ran towards a cluster of buildings near the edge of the square, and climbed up the nearest one. Keeping his tentacles up, he glanced at Sensha as she neared him.

"Where's the other one?"

"Should be coming any minute now." she answered, she was bent over, gulping in massive amounts of air. He saw her gaze flicker towards the tangle of buildings that Tai had run into, and she frowned. He shared her concerns.

A flicker of movement on one of the rooftops caught his eye, and he spotted a shining piece of metal bobbing up and down, and the black coat of the teen holding it. He grinned and tapped Sensha on the shoulder, getting her attention. She smirked as she saw him, and clapped Boto on the shoulder before walking towards Tai, presumably to grab him once he collapses. With some confusion, he saw the lack of movement coming out of the side street Sensha had appeared from, and frowned to himself.

A few minutes later, she came back, with her arm looped around Tai, supporting him as they walked towards Boto. Without any debate or discussion they all nodded to each other, and Boto led them to his motorcycle. Tai grunted a little as he sat down in the side car, with assistance from Sensha. Boto straddled the seat, and grabbed the handlebars firmly, waiting for Sensha's arms to wrap around his waist before gunning the engine.

They left the village, and the eerie wind, behind, travelling up a winding road that continued up the mountain.


	16. The Snow, and The Mask

_City Hall._

The night was cold, and the wind bit into him as it howled and rushed along the almost deserted streets, he opened the door, and exited the satomobile, grabbing his trench coat from the front seat before slamming the door shut. He looked up at the golden lights being thrown off by city hall, and he grimaced.

It was still gaudy.

He pulled his coat on, popping the collar out to give his neck some respite from the frigid air. His boots sunk into the snow as he walked across the large snow covered space, his footsteps the only sound carrying across the gathering square in front of the center of Republic City's government. He picked his pace up a little, moving across the snowed in road, towards the steps that led towards the building's main doors. He took them two at a time, well aware that he was late for his meeting with Saikhan, Lin and Tenzin.

He threw the doors open, and a flicker of surprise darted across his features. Six bodies were lying on the main hall's polished floors, and he immediately rushed over to them. Lin was nearest to him, and she was beginning to stir. He stood over her, his hand at the ready.

"Lin?" he asked. The woman's eyes flashed open, and a groan escaped out of her mouth.

Her minty colored irises focused on him. "Mak…?" he flexed his offered hand, and she nodded slowly. She grabbed it, and he pulled her up, quickly catching her before she lost her balance.

"What happened?" he asked, glancing to see that Tenzin, and the Avatar's friends, were out cold on the floor.

She rubbed her chin, her eyes flashing dangerously with the threat of future violence. "Tarrlok. He can bloodbend."

He was barely able to hid the surprise in his eyes, the only indicator being an arched eyebrow. "That's news."

She went to chuckle, before doubling over and coughing. "Yeah, wasn't the best way to find out." She groaned, clutching her stomach tightly.

Makei steered her over to one of the many long benches in the room."How long ago?"

Lin glanced at him, and sighed. "I think we were out for an hour or so."

He nodded, still holding a worried look. "I'll call some medics, then we can-"

"There isn't any time, Mak. He's got Avatar Korra."

He was silent for a moment, going over plans and counter-plans. "Lin, we have no clue where he's gone to ground, my men have been searching the city for the past two days and haven't turned up anything."

"I know, but…we have to do something, once the others are awake, we'll do a fly over of the city, it's better than nothing at all."

He gave up as he noticed that familiar look in her eye. "Alright. I'll co-ordinate with Saikhan at ground level, we should be able to turn something up soon."

She went to answer him, but her attention was drawn to Tenzin, who was beginning to stir. She rolled her eyes and walked over to him, slapping him twice in the face. "Wake up!"

As Tenzin looked around the chambers, others began to wake as well. Mako was one of the first, and went over to Asami and Bolin while Saikhan rubbed his head and gazed around the chamber, before standing and helping the council members up.

"Commander?" Saikhan left the council members to recover and walked towards him and Lin. "What are you doing here?"

"Lin and Tenzin called me here for a meeting about Avatar Korra."

Saikhan folded his arms together, glancing at Lin. "Would have been nice if I'd been informed."

Lin smirked. "Maybe next time, chief."

They were interrupted by one of the boys blurting out something. "Where is he? Is he here right now?"

Saikhan looked over. "Tarrlok is long gone. I'll alert the whole force." He nodded at Makei and Lin, and left the building, with the council members following after him.

Makei looked at Lin. "I'll help him coordinate."

She nodded, and stood up, heading towards Tenzin and the others. "We've only been out for a little while, maybe we can still pick up Tarrlok's trail." She stopped for a moment. "It was good to see you Mak."

He nodded, and turned towards the others. "Likewise Lin. Tenzin. Oh-" he looked at Mako, Bolin and Asami. "-and you three? Stay out of trouble." He couldn't help the little smirk that formed on his face. Mako folded his arms and scowled, Bolin rubbed his neck sheepishly, while Asami couldn't help chuckling a little.

They all looked at Tenzin and Lin, and walked towards the open doors. Makei left with them, and didn't bat an eyelid when he noticed the large sky bison parked in front of the stairs, it grumbled slightly as he walked past, but he didn't notice. As he walked over to his car, he looked back, seeing Tenzin, Lin and the three tagalongs fly away into the night, to continue their search for the avatar.

As he climbed into his car and turned the ignition with his key, his thoughts were settled on the newly revealed identity of Tarrlok's true abilities. And as he drove away from city hall, he focused on squad compositions, airship patrols, district priority's, and of course having to juggle this with assigning a city wide manhunt for a master blood bender. He came to a very grim and very sour realization.

He would have _a mountain_ of paperwork to do.

Fifteen minutes later he guided his car into a open parking space near the main doors of police headquarters. He brought the vehicle to a standstill and climbed out of his seat, locking the car before walking into the building. As he entered the lobby, he spotted Nisha by the reception desk. She saw him, and snapped off a quick salute. He saluted back, and noted the bags under her eyes.

"Lieutenant, feeling alright?" He waited patiently as she slowly registered what he said and nodded, straightening as much as she could.

"Commander. Chief's starting a speech soon. Do you know why?"

"New details on Avatar Korra's whereabouts."

"That's... good news, sir."

"Unfortunately a high ranking official of the city has been implicated in her capture. Now I'm not saying any names but..."

"Councilman Tarrlok." she looked at him, and he thought he saw her take an inordinate amount of pride in guessing correctly.

"For the record, that is _your_ theory and not mine lieutenant. But yes." she stopped what she was doing and moved away from the desk, heading past the stairs towards a open door on the right. He followed her in, and were immediately left wanting for space as they entered a room full of armored officers, all standing before a raised stage with a simply made podium.

Healers and other bending specialists stood on the outskirts of the room, mainly keeping to themselves or watching the proceedings impassively. Among those in the crowd were officers whose armor was a lighter gray, and various implements hung from their waists, denoting them as non-bending patrolmen.

Makei noticed that a arm was being stock up above the crowd, and Nisha rolled her eyes as Hei called out to her. She glanced at the commander, snapping off a salute before sighing and moving towards the young officer. Makei shook his head, and walked around the outside of the crowd, moving towards the side of the podium. In a few steps he was on the raised portion, and was now overlooking the crowd. From one of the side doors nearby Saikhan entered, briskly walking towards the mic stand.

He was holding a stack of papers, and the room gradually quietened, apart from one brave soul in the crowd, who ventured the question that was on everyone's minds. "Chief, what's the announcement?"

Saikhan rubbed a hand down his face and eyed his assorted officers. "A new development concerning the Avatar's case-", immediately the crowd began to bicker and raise their voices, with a few of the specialists around the outskirts of the room casting furtive or worried glances at each other, a few looked at Makei and he shrugged. Saikhan held up a placating hand. "-Hold on! Let me finish!"

The room quietened down again, and all present had their eyes on the chief. He sighed. "Councilman Tarrlok is believed to be holding Avatar Korra hostage somewhere near the city. He is a blood bender. I and the council witnessed it firsthand.", he looked at the crowd, waiting for more uproar.

All he saw were grim expressions, and every officer present waited on his next words. He cleared his throat. "As of this moment, I am issuing an arrest warrant for former councilman Tarrlok, when captured, he will be brought to trial, and will stand for his crimes. A man like that can not go free. Everyone, continue your duties, and report to me or the commander if any new developments come up. Dismissed!"

* * *

_The Skies Over Republic City._

The bison yawned as it sailed on the ferocious eddies and overwhelming currents of air, showing no sign of the fierce elements overpowering it's flight. As it passed the lit up windows of a unusually tall building it opened it's cavernous mouth wide, and yawned, unleashing a torrent of deep, rumbling sounds that set off pets in the streets below. A gushing overpowering wave of intense smells rolled out as well, adding to the pollution in this part of the city. Luckily it's occupants were sitting far back from it's mouth, and Tenzin was used to the stuff that came out of Oogi's maw.

Oogi sensed that it's master had rolled his eyes in a exasperated fashion, and he grumbled and shook his head slightly, bouncing the serious middle aged man around a little. He then sensed that his master had given him the evil eye, and stopped misbehaving.

Lin sat cross legged in a corner near Tenzin, and was trying her best not to look down over the Bison's side at the far off streets below. She'd been on Oogi's back before, but always carried with her the irrational fear of falling off the saddle and plummeting to the ground. Actually it wasn't that irrational, especially when her mother had told her about the time they were chasing a flock of lemurs...

She was shaken out of remembering the rest of that story when Tenzin glanced at her, noticing the strained look she was holding. She saw the corners of his humorless little mouth raise up in a little smirk, and she growled and folded her arms.

"Is something the matter Lin?" her ex asked her innocently.

"These wires have far more uses then you or I will ever know Tenzin, want to help me _find them_?" she threatened. Tenzin's chuckling carried to her, and she scowled, sinking down a little and doing her best to keep her gaze fixed on the sky above. "Every time I'm on Oogi, you ask me that. You already know what the 'matter' is."

A pause followed. "It's just... I know how uncomfortable you get when off the ground."

She sighed. "Yeah, I should be used to it by now. Found any sign of Korra yet?", she glanced at him and saw the frown on his features.

"No. Nothing yet." he focused on the city below, mentally running through all of Tarrlok's meeting places, crossing off at least twenty before concluding that he wouldn't have gone to them.

Lin had known him for a long time, and like the earth beneath her feet, she could sense almost any mood he was in. "Tenzin. We'll find her."

"I know." She flexed her wires on instinct, before he spoke up again. "Tarrlok will answer for what he's done."

"Get in line." She watched him dip his head a little, and not say anything more. She went back to looking up at the sky when she noticed the two brothers at the back of the saddle, both of them sitting close to each other as they stared down at the city below. She saw the girl sigh despondently as she watched the two of them, although she guessed that she was focusing more on Mako than Bolin.

"Staring at him won't get his attention." she said with a little smile, filled with a sense of deja vu at the girl's situation.

The girl whipped towards her in surprise, her raven locks still staying in their perfect form. "What? Uh, a bit obvious wasn't I?" Asami sealed it with a nervous little laugh.

Lin winced in response. "Just a _bit_. What's the problem?"

Asami glanced at her with a worried look. "I...don't know if you could help me-"

Lin chuckled. "I've had experience."

The girl smiled a little and took a deep breath. "Oookay. It's just that...Mako is really...obsessed with Korra."

"Ah _that _kind of problem.", Lin could sympathize, having been in one of those situations before. Without realizing it she had thrown a glance at Tenzin before looking back at Asami. "I'm sure he's just worried about her, like we all are."

Asami laughed, sounding a bit bitter. "If that's the case, than I have no clue why I'm feeling so...jealous."

"It's natural to feel that way, Asami." Inside she winced, thinking that Tenzin was the one who usually said something like that, not _her_.

"Is it? Korra's my friend! And- and- here I am, complaining about my problems!" She didn't realise that she had raised her voice a little, and that Bolin was looking at the two of them, he mouthed 'sorry', and looked back.

Mako turned to see what was happening, Asami looked away, and his eyebrow rose before he turned back to looking down at the streets below. The girl sighed and buried her face in her arms. "See what I mean?"

She stopped talking and settled for keeping her head buried in her arms, Lin reached out to her for a moment before thinking better of it. She nodded and loosed a sigh. And went back to looking at the sky, the only thing that never changed for her.

* * *

_The Mountains._

Tai was thankful for his long coat, as he drew it around himself, denying the icy and ferocious winds a chance to freeze him. He made a great effort to keep his teeth from chattering, and drew inwards, trying to warm himself up by raising the temperature of the air inside his coat. He glanced at Sensha, noticing she was doing something similar, except that she was warming the entire space around the motorcycle, being far more skilled at fire bending than he was.

He saw that Boto's expression was inscrutable, especially when it was hidden behind his smiling wolf helm. He guessed that out of the three of them, he the one who was feeling the elements the most. The road banked upwards, as it reached a sharp incline, and Tai watched the snow laden trees whip past them, their branches sagging from the weight piled on top of them. The darkness was now total, and everywhere he looked, all that stared back was pitch black nothingness. The only things visible, was the road in front of them, and the tree's that immediately hugged the sides. He found his teeth chattering again, and he clamped down on them, and kept his teeth clenched.

To take his mind off of his teeth, he reached behind himself, and his hand met the blackened leather handle of his sword, he reached a bit further down, and felt his fingertips brush against the leather of his scabbard. Satisfied, he drew back his hand, stuffing it into one of the great pockets of his coat, which proved very warm and comfortable.

The only sound heard was the whine of the bike's engine, as it worked to climb the incline that rose in front of them. He was content with staying silent too, knowing that this kind of weather always had that effect on people. His eyes were drawn to a flick of movement off to the right of the road. He squinted, looking past the darkened trunks of the treeline, he thought he saw a massive and blurry shape moving around out there, and briefly wondered as to what it could be. But just as fast as he saw it, it vanished, leaving him wondering. His eyes settled back onto the road ahead of them, and he found himself thinking of something he really didn't want to dwell on.

Tarrlok.

He was certain that he'd know what he was going to do once they got there, all of his choices ended wit Tarrlok being knocked out and left in the cold, he deserved it after all. And why not? He kidnapped one of his best friends, nearly killed him twice, and had been manipulating him from the start. Why shouldn't he?

Tai sighed, still not sure on what he was going to do. He saw Boto turn his head slightly. "We're nearly there." he shouted, having to raise his voice to be heard above the howling wind. Sensha answered with a simple nod, and gave Tai a reassuring thumbs up. Tai nodded, and looked straight ahead.

The incline finally leveled out, and the bike's wheels were now on the same level. It's twin headlights revealed a turn up ahead, one that gracefully curved to the left, disappearing it went behind a cluster of tree's. Boto's hands deftly twisted the handlebars, and the bike banked slightly, and they were greeted with a small stretch of road, which ended abruptly at a clump of tree's ahead. A small hill rose up next to it, and held a small and darkened cabin on top of it. Tai noticed the plainly adorned truck that sat next to it, and scowled, Boto followed his gaze as he slowed the bike, and the whine of the engine dropped away to almost nothing, replaced with the constant keening noise of the wind. He flipped a switch, and the lights winked off. They all dismounted, and crept up to the base of the hill.

"We do this the smart way. Tai, head for the truck and secure it, we'll head inside and clear the house."

Hesitantly, Tai nodded. He spotted a worn and barely there path that wound around the base of the hill, slowly rising up to end at the cabin. He crept away, tugging at his scabbard's clasps to make sure they were secure. His boots were padded, and only made a small amount of noise as they sunk into the wet snow. He flattened himself against the snow as much as possible, ignoring the clumps of snow that seeped through his clothes, and pretty soon he felt a a chill across his chest, and involuntarily shivered. His gloves gave him some good purchase on the snow, when he had to grab at the ground hiding underneath it to pull himself up. He crested the hill, and quickly ran towards the front of the truck, keeping himself hidden by keeping to it's front grill. He heard the noise of something being dropped into the back of the truck, and kept still for a moment, waiting a few moments before daring to look around the truck's side. As he slowly crept forwards, step by step, he heard the sound of footsteps moving away from the truck.

He stopped again and - once he was sure his movements wouldn't betray him - moved forwards again. The sight that greeted him made his blood rage. He unsheathed his sword, threw caution to the wind, and ran out into the open, stopping in front of three figures. Two of them wore hoods, while the other regarded him from under green goggles. Those eyes narrowed, and a kali stick appeared in each hand. One of the hooded figures looked at the other with, and the taller of them held up a hand, and stepped forward, his grim white mask hiding his thoughts and expressions.

"Young man. We meet again."

He stood there, his thoughts racing, and his mind focusing on one thing, and one thing only. He growled. "Where is she!" his eyes were blazing with rage, and he brought his sword to bear.

"Unfortunately, she has escaped our grasp-"

"BULLSHIT!" he roared. His hands shook, and he was barely able to hold himself from charging the bastard there and then. The hooded man by Amon's side reached behind him, and two black swords presented themselves, and Tai saw two grey eyes piercing through him. "Brother. Why have you come?"

The rational part of him rushed to the fore, and tried to placate his baser instincts. He stared at his big brother, and instantly, he was on the warpath again, and saw nothing other than a obstacle. "Isn't it obvious Tarrin?"

"Ah. You came for her. How admirable." His older brother stared at him impassively, as still as the moon above. Tai felt his hands shaking in blind rage, forgetting for a moment that was his brother standing there.

The lieutenant glanced at Amon, and the terrorist answered with a almost negligible shake of the head. "You should answer my protege's question boy."

He almost blanched. "Your protege? He's _my_ brother, not some tool of yours!"

The terrorist's response was almost clinical in tone. "He disowned you years ago boy, ever since what you did to your parents."

"What I did! _You're_ the murderer! You killed them! You killed them both! And Telei!" he stopped for a moment, and laughed with a dark tone, tightening the grip on his sword. "And now...I'LL KILL YOU!"

Amon nodded, and his subordinates rushed forward, their footfalls too silent to be normal. Tarrin struck first, rushing forward with both of his dark swords extended in a slashing swipe towards Tai's side, he met both of them head on with a crude slash, keeping both blades at bay as they clashed against his sword. They both slipped away, and Tarrin followed with a vicious low kick, Tai twisted to the side, throwing a hand out to blast a few discouraging pulses of air. They all landed, to no negligible effect, and Tarrin lashed out with his other foot, catching Tai on his side. He responded with a sweep of flame, forcing Tarrin to dance backwards.

The lieutenant came at him from the side, diving with his two kali sticks touching their tips together, causing an arc of electricity to spark between them. Tai twisted too late, and both of them landed on his arm. He gritted his teeth as he felt his arm spasm, and he nearly lost his grip on his weapon. He brought his other hand up, aiming it at the lieutenant, but he was as fast as a shadow, and was absent from sight.

No more blows fell upon him, and he saw the two of them at Amon's side once more, standing impassively, while their leader held up a hand. "You want to face me? Very well." with an unspoken command, his two loyal subordinates stepped back, leaving Amon to stand on his own. Tai's rational side came out again, screaming at him to run. He ignored the little voice, and reaffirmed his grip, using both hands to keep his blade steady.

Amon walked towards him calmly, and even that minor movement made Tai's skin crawl. He shook it off, and advanced as well, keeping his sword between him and the equalist leader. Unconsciously, they began to circle one another, until Tai yelled and ran forward, blasting a stream of fire at the terrorist. Amon sidestepped it with ease, and ran towards the boy, Tai danced backwards, using his sword to shape and fling slices of air at his experienced opponent. Again he dodged them, and in no time at all, his hand had gripped the boy's collar, and lifted him over his shoulder. Tai was flung into the air, and he slid across the snow.

He thrusted his palm towards the ground and blasted a gout of wind to right himself. He thrust his arms to the sides and then brought them back together, a massive blast of wind surged towards Amon, who broke into a run, powering through the strong gale. Tai narrowed his eyes and threw his arms back, leaving Amon an opening to strike at him. Just as Amon was within striking distance, he brought them forwards, summoning a great gush of fire in his face. Incredibly, Amon showed no signs of slowing down and dived through the flames, their light glinting off of his mask as his hands shot forward, and caught Tai in a choke hold.

The boy sputtered and gasped in pain as his grip tightened, and Tai saw red creeping into his vision. Amon stared at him with impassive eyes, and he wrenched the boy to the ground, forcing him to his knees. Tai tried to fight through the grip, and willed himself to stand. But the terrorist's boot crashed into his side, and the boy yelled in pain, dropping his sword into the snow.

Every fiber of his being was shaking with rage, and shouted at him to get up. But try as he might, he couldn't break the iron hold on him. He tasted blood on his tongue, and spat it out. The terrorist lifted one hand away from him, and with the other forced him to look upwards, directly into the soulless mask.

"You will be cleansed..."

He struggled, but the grip on his neck grew tighter, and he felt his vision dim.

No! You won't go out like this!

He gritted his teeth, and uncurled his fist, with great difficulty, he managed to aim it directly at the masked man, and - just as the man's finger was about to press into his forehead - he yelled, and the snow around them was whipped into a fury, quickly blanketing the area in a blinding haze. A ball of super dense air hovered above his open palm. and in that ball was a blazing nucleus of brilliant orange fire, the terrorist's hold slackened just a little, and in that moment he acted, twisting out of his grip and shoving the ball into his chest. The unstable mass roiled and shuddered as he heard a barely audible gasp of surprise, and the outer sphere of air burst apart like a ripe melon, and the fiery core was unleashed. The only direction it could go was forwards, and it moved with tremendous force. An invisible hand sent Tai flying, and he slammed into the ground ten meters away.

Amon was thrown away as well, and landed roughly in the opposite direction, and was conspicuously still. After a few moments he stirred, and stood up, brushing a few flames off of his dark clothes. The right side of his mask was charred and burnt, and the padding on his chest was frayed and seared black. He stood there impassively.

Tai rose his head, shaking a few clumps of snow from his hair. His sword was lying nearby, and he reached for it, his fingers curling around the handle in a weak grip. He was breathing heavily, and he saw blood on his chest. He felt woozy, but stood up anyway, stumbling for a second before regaining his balance. He peered into the haze for a few moments, and sudden spark of hope lit in him, and he wondered if he had finally done it.

His hopes were dashed when he spied the outline of a small red dot moving through the haze towards him. He growled and took a step forward, before stumbling and falling into the snow, gasping in pain as his ankle rebelled against him.

A shadow fell over him, and a hand wrapped around his neck, and he weakly struggled as he was raised into the air a little, his boot tips barely brushing against the ground. A cold white mask regarded him.

"A pity. You would be a welcome comrade."

* * *

His fist crashed into the equalist's jawline, and the ice around it broke and shattered, adding a destructive and concussive edge to his powerful punch. The man was thrown into the wall with a loud thud, and slid down it before crumpling to the ground in a stunned state. His keen icy eyes swung left, seeing a pair of electrified bolo's spinning towards him. He flexed his fingers and whirled his arm around in a horizontal sweep, dragging a stream of water out of the air and molding it into a thick tendril. The whip slammed one of the spinning contraptions out of the air, while the other continued unmolested on a straight path to his head. He tilted to the right, and one of the razor sharp wires managed to graze his chin and draw a bit of blood, before sailing into the snowy trees behind him.

He stood still for a moment, wary of moving into a ambush. The wind howled and keened as he listened for any movement, making it very difficult to find out what his opponent was doing or planning. The wind briefly dropped away to a subtle whisper, and he heard a flurry of footfalls to his left. He narrowed his eyes, and stayed still, not moving a muscle. The noises drew closer, but he still didn't act, he heard a sharp breath by his left ear, and quickly ducked down, as a baton swept through the space his head was occupying moments before. He rose his arms up in a graceful arc, and his fingers curled and flexed. A patch of snow began to shine, and the equalists drew a sharp breath in surprise as a mound of ice grew over his feet, and continued building up until it encased everything but his gas mask covered head.

Boto took a step forward and whirled around, his fist crashing into the equalist's lenses, cracking the green tinted glass. The man's head lolled and he cried out in pain, he struggled and tried to free himself from the encasing ice. And Boto thought of hitting him again to knock him out, but he ruled against it, knowing that long ago he vowed never to stoop to that level. He walked away from his new ice sculpture, keeping an eye out for any more equalists hiding beyond what he could see. The rapidly encroaching fog made it difficult to pick out individual shapes, altogether providing excellent cover for an ambush by the agile revolutionaries.

Slowly he backed towards the dark shape of the cabin wall nearby, planning to link up with Sensha and Tai to end this quickly. A leather clad boot came flying out of the snow filled air towards him, and he twisted out of the way. Immediately the equalist recovered and his other foot lashed out, his boot tip brushing against the young man's side for a instant. Boto growled and stepped away from him, making sure he wouldn't be able to follow up with his entire boot.

Both of his hands shot forwards, crashing against the equalist's stomach like waves. The agile man flexed his stomach muscles just before impact, and consequently didn't feel them at all. He responded with two quick jabs to Boto's side, leaving a stinging sensation that intensely annoyed him. Before he could react in turn his foe had disappeared into the fog again.

Using this to his advantage, he stole a glance at the darkened windows of the cabin, wondering what Sensha was doing in there. He knew her, she always had something up her sleeve, and wouldn't have been taken by surprise. He saw the edge of the wall stop abruptly ten meters in front of him, marking the cabin's corner as the wall ran off in a ninety degree angle. He made his decision and advanced slowly to that corner, keeping an careful eye turned towards his flank to make sure that equalist wouldn't get the drop on him. He was about to turn the corner when he heard the sound of something whipping towards him and he dodged out of the way, rolling in the snow and standing back up to deliver a lashing tendril of water to his attacker. He wasn't guaranteed to hit anyone though, but was pleasantly surprised when his tendril whipped back towards him, dragging his attacker into view, the man struggled in vain to escape the thickened water. Boto sent him flying into the wall nearby, and the man crashed into it and fell to the ground, stunned and unable to continue the a step forward and whirled around, his fist crashing into the equalist's lenses, cracking the green tinted glass. The man's head lolled and he cried out in pain, he struggled and tried to free himself from the encasing ice. And Boto thought of hitting him again to knock him out, but he ruled against it, knowing that long ago he vowed never to stoop to that level. He walked away from his new ice sculpture, keeping an eye out for any more equalists hiding beyond what he could see. The rapidly encroaching fog made it difficult to pick out individual shapes, altogether providing excellent cover for an ambush by the agile revolutionaries.

Slowly he backed towards the dark shape of the cabin wall nearby, planning to link up with Sensha and Tai to end this quickly. A leather clad boot came flying out of the snow filled air towards him, and he twisted out of the way. Immediately the equalist recovered and his other foot lashed out, his boot tip brushed against the young man's side for a instant. Boto growled and stepped away from him, making sure he wouldn't be able to follow up with his entire boot.

Both of his hands shot forwards, crashing against the equalist's stomach like waves. The agile man flexed his stomach muscles just before impact, and consequently didn't feel them at all. He responded with two quick jabs to Boto's side, leaving a stinging sensation that intensely annoyed him. Before he could react in turn his foe had disappeared into the fog again.

He stole a glance at the darkened windows of the cabin, wondering what Sensha was doing in there. He knew her, she always had something up her sleeve, and wouldn't have been taken by surprise. He saw the edge of the wall stop abruptly ten meters in front of him, marking the cabin's corner as the wall ran off in a ninety degree angle. He made his decision and advanced slowly to that corner, keeping an careful eye turned towards his flank to make sure that equalist wouldn't get the drop on him. He was about to turn the corner when he heard the sound of something whipping towards him and he dodged out of the way, rolling in the snow and standing back up to deliver a lashing tendril of water to his attacker. He wasn't guaranteed to hit anyone though, but was pleasantly surprised when his tendril whipped back towards him, dragging his attacker into view, the man struggled in vain to escape the thickened water. Boto sent him flying into the wall nearby, and the man crashed into it and fell to the ground, stunned and unable to continue the fight.

He slipped around the corner, putting his back to the wall as he crept towards the other side of the cabin. He heard voices, and the unmistakable shouting of Tai, who seemed to be accusing someone of a crime. He frowned as he peered around the corner, seeing two dark clothed men standing with their backs to him, seemingly just watching the drama unfold. One of them, who had two black swords sheathed in a x shape on his back, clenched and unclenched his hands behind his back, while the other stood there impassively.

He had to think quickly as a series of choked gasps reached him, knowing that his friend was in serious trouble. He had to make a plan, knowing that it would be suicide to just rush in there this instant. His eyes brightened as an idea came to him, and he peered around the wall again. Now that the snow had lifted a little on this side, he saw that the leader of the equalists was here, currently standing over Tai with one arm raised to the sky, and the other clamping down on the back of Tai's neck. Boto's every nerve itched for him to run in there and save him, but his brain forced him to crouch there and merely watch, even with the knowledge that in a few seconds, his friend wouldn't be himself ever again.

But he noticed a small hand movement that Tai was doing, managing to hide it from Amon, who was spouting his nonsense about cleansing impurities. In a moment of dark humor, Boto reflected that the leader of the equalists would be _perfect_ for a role in a house cleaning commercial. He shook the thought away as he heard Tai yell a blood curdling cry, and ram some kind of sphere into the terrorist's chest.

The resulting explosion was massive, and the pressure wave swept everyone outside off of their feet, excluding the two at the epicenter of the event. Boto was thrown into the snow, and his head rang as his helmet hit a rock hidden in the white powder. Woozily he stood back up, and put his plan into action.

He ran around the corner, calling up a pair of water whips that ended in his gloved hands. He rapidly approached one of the dark clothed men from behind, and flicked on of the tendrils at him, sweeping off of his feet and burying him into the snow once saw that Amon was practically unscathed and advanced towards Tai. In his injured state he wouldn't be able to get away, so Boto picked up the pace. He heard the sound of crackling electricity nearby and ducked under the lieutenant's baton, blasting a shock of water into his stomach. It froze into ice and with a grunt the man was thrown back, allowing Boto to continue without interruption.

As he was hugging the wall, a chi blocker was thrown through the doorway and into thrown out into the snow nearby. The cold dark eyeholes of Amon's mask whirled to look at the interruption, and Boto swore as he was about to be discovered. But the snow thrown up by the explosion limited visibility, and Amon only had eyes for his comrade's unconscious body, probably only noticing him because of their dark and noticeable clothing.

Boto took his chance and as fast as he could he sprinted towards Amon, wrapping his remaining whip around the imposing man's chest. He pulled and Amon was sent tumbling into the snow nearby. He didn't stop to drop a quip or one liner, and sprinted towards his fallen friend, throwing spikes of ice and rushes of water at the three equalists behind him to deter them from immediately attacking him.

His thoughts quickly turned to healing techniques and strategies as he neared Tai.


	17. The Haze, and The Brothers

Tai responded by spitting a gob of blood at him, it landed on the mask's unmarred right side, and rolled down it, leaving a dirty red trail. "I would _never_ join you! You took my brother from me, my whole family! And you think I'll let you take _her _as well? I'd rather die!"

The man behind the mask showed no response. The wind picked up, and a ferocious blizzard was beginning to form, the snow thrown up by Tai's attack whipped and whirled furiously, making it almost impossible for anyone to hear anything that wasn't right next to them. "I am sorry for what happened to your family boy, I can only hope that they have found peace in the next life."

"I'll make sure you meet them!" Tai was answered by Amon's grip tightening around his neck, and he began to cough and choke.

He was brought closer to the mask, and soon he saw nothing but the white, red and gold markings. "I will put you down." the grip tightened further, and stars exploded across his eyes, and he felt himself slipping away. His sword fell from his hand, falling into the snow. He fought the urge to close his eyes, and focused on opening his right hand. A sphere of air flickered and wavered above it, and inside that sphere a tiny flame winked and fizzled, before disappearing, and the air around it stopped.

His battered body began to shut down, and he felt his limbs numb. A crashing noise reached his ears, and he willed his eyes to open, seeing a chi blocker being flung past them. Amon tilted his head slightly, and threw Tai into the snow, turning to face the interruption. Tai couldn't feel anything at all, not even the cold grip of numbness. His hands weakly gripped the snow in front of him, and he pulled himself along, trying to move closer to his sword, the powdery snow made his palms slick with wetness, and he soon had difficulty getting his hands to move. He felt like a massive weight was piled on top of his entire body, and with every movement he made, it pressed down with more pressure upon him. He heard a voice and the crunch of snow underfoot, as someone came towards him.

Just as the vague outline of a wolf helm came into view, it disappeared just as quickly, and he vaguely heard the sounds of ice shards slicing through the air, and grunts of exertion mixed with occasional pained noises. A water whip appeared, only visible to him because ice vapor had covered the air around it. It whipped towards a unknown target, and a few moments later the blurry shape of a body was thrown back by the whip, disappearing into the haze. The sound of footsteps reached him again, and with a massive amount of effort, he managed to lift his head out of the snow, looking up to see a blob of water surrounding someone's hand. It pulsed a light blue as it drew closer, and a hand flipped him over roughly, eliciting a weak cry of protest from him. He was facing up into the dark and blurry sky, as Boto looked down at him, a look of immense concern etched all over his face.

"Tai! Can you hear me? Nod!" he shouted, having to raise his voice to be heard amongst the raging elements. Tai's tortured mind barely registered what he said, and he nodded. Boto sighed with relief, and clamped the blob of water over his chest. Immediately a wave of relief flooded through his chest, and a sigh escaped from his lips. The fire in his chest dulled, and he found it easier to breath and keep his eyes open, the blob ran over his arms and legs in quick succession, draining away the aches and pains as much as possible, before disappearing and leaving a offered brown hand in it's place. Finding it easier to move now Tai grabbed it, and was lifted onto his feet.

"Th-thanks." he gasped out. Before Boto could speak, he held up a hand while making whirling movements with the other. He coughed and sputtered as oxygen was forced down his throat, and after a few gut wrenching moments of a drowning sensation, he felt his blood move faster, and his body temperature warmed up. His muscles responded more quickly, and he could move far more easily now. "Sorry-" he coughed, "-Just a little airbending trick to keep me going."

"It looks painful."

"Yeah-" he bent over and coughed deeply and raspily, he wiped his mouth and straightened again. "Ready for round two."

Boto looked at him for a moment, and Tai sensed the questions that bounced around on his friend's tongue. "Later."

"Alright."

Tai bent down to grab his sword, feeling much more secure once his hand was wrapped around it's handle. He peered into the haze, trying to pick out where the three equalists had gone to. He took a step forward before Boto stopped him. "I'll go in close, you stay back, make sure the other two don't slip past me."

Reluctantly, Tai nodded, and slid his sword back into it's scabbard, leaving his hands free for bending. Boto gave him a reassuring nod and moved forwards cautiously, slowly disappearing into the haze. Tai advanced slowly, keeping an eye out for a pair of kali sticks or black swords. His breathing was slow and laborious, and he had a slight limp as he kept a watch out. He noticed a dark blur of movement nearby and fixed on it. He aimed his hand towards it, growling at the sharp twinge of pain that shot through him from the small movement. Punches and blasts of air flew from his open palm, weak but numerous. Each one that missed threw up a handful of snow, but one of them managed to hit the blur, and he heard a whispered swear.

He moved forwards, he found it increasingly difficult to keep up the sweeps and arcs required to perform air bending, so he switched tracks, and used short and abrupt punches to throw balls of flame forwards. Their passage was marked by a small wispy trail of steam as the moisture in it's path boiled away. The blur responded by leaping and twisting, and he heard something spinning through the haze towards him. He twisted out of the way with great difficulty, as a electrified bolo spun past him and disappeared down the hill below.

As the snow haze began to settle, the cabin's wall came into view, although still obscured. He noticed flashes of fire within, and walked towards it, taking out his sword. He tossed a glance towards Boto's whereabouts, and was confident that he had things under control. Possibly.

* * *

Boto ducked and weaved desperately, each time just barely avoiding the razor sharp edges of the two black blades. Having been a three year member of Republic City's police force, he had been trained in advanced hand to hand combat, although the styles he was taught relied on the opponent being unarmed and desperate, not professional and focused and swinging two insanely sharp swords at his face.

One of those swords nicked him on the forearm, easily cutting through the hardened pale blue material and drawing a bead of blood. He scooped a ball of water out of the freezing air, and threw it at the hooded young man. His opponent sidestepped the weak move and than kicked him viciously in the knee. Boto gritted his teeth as he lost his footing and tumbled into the snow. Just as the swordsman was about to stab downwards with both blades, he gathered a large amount of snow around him into a wispy cocoon. He turned it into ice and encased his entire body. The tips of the blades scratched and nicked the ultra dense ice, and the momentum he had put into the attack worked against him, causing him to twist and fall into the snow nearby. Boto closed his eyes and opened his mouth, releasing a steamy breath that quickly melted the ice around him, giving him the freedom to quickly break out of the block.

He stood up and very quickly dried himself off, aware of the experience of having been out in a icy waste while completely soaked. He gathered the chunks of broken ice up and melted them down into water, forming the floating blobs into a whip. He lashed it towards Tarrin, who rolled to avoid the thick and heavy tendril. Boto seethed as he felt a series of quick jabs land on his side, and on he instinct he flung his hand out, in order to prepare another water whip. Suddenly the nerves all along his arm burned, and he yelled in pain as his arm went limp. He danced backwards in response to Tarrin's renewed assault, barely managing to block every little blow, jab, or punch.

A few got through however, and the fight began to chip away at him. Finally his arm stopped burning, and he took a step back before flinging both arms up, commanding the snow to rise and surround Tarrin. He heard a series of annoyed grunts as he tried to see through the whirlwind of snow, but had to stop every time one of the snow particles got into his eyes. Boto had some time, and he lifted a patch of water out of the ground. He separated it into four pieces and froze them. He sent them spinning towards Tarrin's position, and heard them all connect with him.

He took his chances and retreated, putting a distance between him and the deadly young man. Just as he was about to catch his breath a electrically charged kali stick slammed into his back, causing him to double over in pain. He felt spasms throughout his body that wracked him with incredible pain, he moved forward a step before falling face down into the snow. He writhed as the electricity coursed through his veins and nerves, and rolled around in the snow. His eyes were squeezed shut, but he open one of them, seeing a pair of black boots standing nearby. It was difficult just willing his arm to move, and even worse trying to open his hand so that his fingers were splayed out. He swallowed, feeling the dryness that coated his throat and mouth. He gritted his teeth at how much this was going to hurt him.

But what he had in mind wasn't going to happen, as the lieutenant lifted one of his boots, and slammed down on the top of his head. He saw red, he saw stars. Then he saw nothing at all.

* * *

Three pairs of green lenses closed in on her, and within the darkened confines of the cabin, they threw off a bright and eerie glow. She bent backwards as a leather boot swept in from the right, she flung one hand towards the floor and pumped out a jet of fire, and with the other she held the leg in a tight hold. The flame jet propelled her back up, and she dragged the equalist to the floor, before relinquishing her hold and whirling around, in time to block a few jabs with her arms. Each one stung a little, she narrowed her eyes and hissed, before summoning a ball of fire in her open palm and flinging it forwards, into the chest of the surprised equalist. The agile attacker twisted out of the way at the last second, and she felt a flurry of quick jabs strike her side. Each one built a fire that coursed through her right arm, and she realized that any flames she summoned with that arm would only result in her nerves burning with pain.

She danced backwards, but misjudged her steps and hit the wall, she quickly dropped to the floor as a foot flew towards her, instead leaving a dent in the old wood. Her fist shot forward, managing to connect with a very vital region on the equalist's body. She was greeted with the music of sharp and muffled cry of pain, and the man fell backwards, both of his hands covering the afflicted vital region. She swept his feet out from under him, and he crashed to the floor, unconscious.

She stepped over him, and threw a stream of flame at a chi blocker running towards her, he stepped past the flames with no effort, throwing jabs at her stomach, she dodged backwards, and kept the fire stream alive, she swept it towards him from the side, forcing him to duck. She didn't notice the spinning bolo he had released, and she cried out with surprise as it wrapped around her open palm, squeezing her fingers together, she bit her lip at the pain, and screamed as it released an electrical current down her arm. She ignored the burning fire in her other arm as she held it against the wire wrapped around her trapped hand. She lashed out at the chi blocker, her boot catching the bottom of his mask, he was sent crashing to the floor, and she had a brief respite from his onslaught. Gritting her teeth she extended her finger, willing a jet of flame to spark at the tip. She held it against the sparking wire, and slowly it burned through, the bolo came free, and clattered to the floor, it's core charred and smoking.

She hissed with pain as she saw the burn marks on her palm, and clamped down on the pain that threatened to overcome her. Her muscles spasmed erratically as the last of the electricity coursed through her system, and she gritted her teeth, bearing herself. She stepped towards the chi blocker, and her boot crashed into his side. His hands wrapped around her leg and brought her crashing to the floor. He was up and running, scooping up his comrade and running out of the door. She lay there for a few moments as she caught her breath, and stood up. She heard the sound of footsteps coming towards the open door, and readied flames in both hands for throwing.

Her chest rose and fell in rapid succession, and she found herself breathing much more heavily then usual. She nearly slapped herself when she remembered how thin air was on a mountainside. She stopped for a moment as a new noise made itself heard, she arched an eyebrow and took a step towards the open door.

The sound of a running engine reached her ears.

She went over to the window, and saw the powerful headlights of the truck wink on, lighting up the area. She watched as Boto turned to look at the new disturbance, and just as quickly whipped back to duck under two kali sticks, while he prepared a water whip to strike back. She craned her neck to look down the side of the cabin, and saw Tai limping towards the cabin, his sword held loosely in his right hand. He didn't notice her though, and she could barely see him through the snow that still blanketed the air.

A shadow darted towards him and tackled him to the ground, dragging him back into the haze.

She ran outside, wreathing her hands in flame both to warm herself up and see a little better in the rapidly darkening haze. She advanced slowly, and turned in slow circles to keep an eye on her surroundings. All she could hear was the high pitched keening of the snowy wind, and the faint sound of her foot as they sunk a little into the snow. It was hard to pick out anyone from the haze, forcing her to keep on her guard as she looked for where her friend had been dragged off to, she silently prayed that she wouldn't run into Amon, hoping that a chi blocker might discover her instead. She shivered every time she thought of the terrifyingly stark white mas, the blood red circle, the almost soulless black eye holes. And not to mention that everything she had heard about the man was bad news.

She shook her head to clear out her thoughts, than stopped for a moment. She didn't know where she was. She looked around desperately, trying to pick out the dark grey profile of the cabin, but the snow was thick and heavy, and anything beyond three feet was obscured by a heavy white blanket of snow. She turned around, aiming to retrace her steps back to the cabin, when two green lenses greeted her. She felt a iron grip on her wrist and hissed in pain, the grip twisted her forwards and down into the snow. She stood up quickly, wreathing her hands in fire to take down the equalist who had attacked her. But there was no one there, and she was on edge. She whirled around to deter any sneak attacks, and saw a black boot rushing towards her, she ducked and blasted a stream of fire around her, forcing the equalist to back away for the time being. She breathed out, finding it difficult to keep a fire burning at this attitude and temperature. Each time she loosed a blast or arc of fire she felt a little bit colder, and couldn't regain that little bit of warmth that came with the flame.

If this fight dragged on, she would most likely collapse and grow numb, unable to keep up a steady body temperature to fuel herself and her bending. She wouldn't let that happen though.

She stalked off, following the slight depressions her boots had made in the snow, retracing her steps back to the cabin. A black mask that covered all but his nose and mouth greeted her, and two green lenses set in brass fixtures looked at her. Two kali sticks whipped towards her side, and she immediately loosed a quick kick at his lower body. He didn't flinch as his groin was hit, but still powered forwards, the sparking blue tips of the kali sticks winked out, and the two of them were slammed into her side, leaving vicious bruising and causing her to stumble back. She found it difficult to raise her right arm for long, and it was even harder trying to get a spark going over her hand.

She settled for slamming her elbow into his arm, he grunted and nearly lost the grip on one of his kali sticks, the surprising hit made him stumble back a little, and she followed up with a flame covered palm to the chest. He was sent flying back into the snow somewhere, and she quickly grabbed a few breaths, taking advantage of the lull in their fight.

* * *

"Hey Tarrin." Tai half coughed out. His brother looked down at him, and Tai raised his palm upwards sending a blast of air into his chest, flinging him away. He quickly got up, and limped to his sword, grasping it as firmly as he could. He kept to the wall, and summoned a ball of flame in his other hand as he moved forwards, step by step.

A forearm came rushing out of the haze, slamming into his neck and ridding him of any air. He choked and sputtered as his head slammed into the wall, making stars sprout up in his eyes. He struggled and twisted until a black sword was pressed up against his neck, forcing him to still.

Two piercing grey eyes met his.

Despite the sharp edged metal held against his throat, Tai managed to choke out a few words. "Why are you with him?"

In response Tarrin's sword pressed a little deeper, just as Tai swallowed. "I don't have anything to say to you."

"Then why haven't you killed me?"

The sword wavered, but the pressure didn't let off. "I'm saving you for last." his brother growled.

"I didn't do it Tarrin."

"That's a LIE!" he yelled. The sword pressed in again, and this time it broke the skin, and Tai felt a trickle of blood seep into his collar.

"No. It isn't."

"They died because of your ignorance!" his eyes were burning with rage as he spat the words out at his younger brother.

Tai shook his head. "It was Amon."

"Liar!"

Tai glanced at the gaunt shape of his brother's face, remembering the award winning smiles he used to have years ago. "I've never lied to you Tarrin. You're my big brother.", Tarrin's eyes softened for a split second, and the young man looked away, his hood obscuring his face. In a soft voice he spoke. "That was a long time ago, brother. I-After what you did-"

"Tarrin I-", he let out an involuntary yelp as he was shoved into the wall. His brother's grip tightened, and Tarrin growled, shaking his head. "No. He saved my life! He took me in to ensure something like that wouldn't happen ever again!"

"You idiot. He did it, he was after that-THAT thing under the house!", the sword was drawn back, and Tai felt the pressure on his throat disappear, he swallowed experimentally, and glanced at his brother's hard-to-read features. "So...what happens now?"

"Don't come after me brother...I'm where I belong." Tarrin whispered.

"What? Tarrin what did you say?", Tai was genuinely confused, and soon enough that confusion turned into anger. "You _belong_ with that monster? He's gotten into your head, he's been leading you around!", Tai's eyes grew wet. "Tarrin. Come home." he whispered.

For a moment Tarrin's eyes had softened, and his body language screamed uncertainty and confusion. For a moment Tai saw his big brother again, but Tarrin suddenly scowled, and just like that the crazed avenger was back again. "Pathetic. I _am_ home."

Tai went to protest, but was answered by a hilt slamming into his stomach. He gasped in pain and slid down the wall, while his brother sheathed his swords and walked away, heading towards the truck and the grim white mask waiting for him. Tai clutched his stomach, and stared after his departing brother with blazing fury. His other hand clenched into a fist. "Fine. If you won't come home, I'll drag you!" he shouted. Tarrin stopped and turned, unsheathing his two black swords, and looked at Tai with his piercing gaze. "Don't be a idiot, _little _brother.", he stood there, still as a statue while Tai took out his own sword, and walked towards him.

"I'm surprised you can still fight." Tarrin chuckled humorlessly. He settled into a very unusual stance, where he held one blade in front of him with the grip reversed, and the other behind him, held normally.

"I'm _tenacious_. Remember the time we were trapped in that valley?" Tai responded. He circled his brother, wary of what he could do with his two swords. He slowly drew his hands together, and flung them forwards, creating a blast of wind that surged forwards, the snow that it passed over was flung into the air and whipped around in dizzying patters, which Tai used to his advantage. With one arm controlling the surge, he used his other to manipulate the air the snow was floating on, guiding it in a tight and controlled arc towards his brother. He lowered his arm and ran forwards, gripping his sword in two hands, two black swords slammed into his, edge on edge, and the heavy alloys in them squealed and grinded against the more lighter alloys that made up Tai's blade. Tai snaked a hand around the locked swords, splaying his palm so he could blast a small ball of air to dislodge Tarrin. But his brother was smart and pushed his swords upwards, so that they slid off the tip of Tai's blade and sliced towards Tai's exposed wrist, he yelped and drew back on instinct, suddenly the swords were taken out of their descent and Tarrin loosed a quick vicious kick that caught him in the stomach. Tai doubled over for a moment, before snapping up and jabbing forwards with his left hand, which was wreathed in flames.

Tarrin was caught unawares, and growled before leaping backwards to avoid the small but powerful flame. Tai didn't let him rest, and threw slices of wind at him, prompting him to dodge, duck and weave to avoid the sharpened wind. His brother rolled towards him, and broke into a slide across the snow, clearing the distance between them quickly. Tai aimed his hand downwards to blast him back when he cried out as his legs crumpled, and his feet were swept out from under him by Tarrin. He crashed to the snow and his sword had been flung away from his grasp. He felt a immense pressure on his chest as his brother knelt over him, and both of his swords were pressed down onto Tai's neck.

As his brother's swords slowly pressed down, just short of breaking the skin, Tai noticed two dark blurry figures walking towards them. The lieutenant came into view, and his two kali sticks were holstered on the small generator on his back. He stare down at Tai, and folded his arms as the second figure came into view. Amon walked towards the two of them, before kneeling down and placing a hand on Tarrin's shoulder. Tai saw his brother's eyes soften as he looked up at the grim white mask, which still hosted a few scratches and burn marks from their fight before.

"Tarrin."

"Y-yes master?" he answered shakily. Tai couldn't believe his ears, he had never heard his brother speak like this before, even to their parents.

"Are you sure about this?" the grim white mask shook a little as it focused on the black swords pressed against Tai's throat. Tai gasped as the swords bit in a little too deep, and he felt blood trickle out and down his neck again, settling over the dried blood from before.

"I-it's what I've trained for. W-wasn't it?" Tarrin answered. He wasn't focusing on Tai anymore, instead looking up at Amon with a expression that almost bordered on awe and worship. Inwardly Tai scowled. This wasn't going to be easy for him to fix.

"When bending destroyed your home and splintered your family. I took you in to protect you from the benders of this world. We need to send a message, one that can't be sent with blood."

"But master. He's the one who destroyed my home, who destroyed my family!" Tarrin's voice rose. And Amon was silent.

"Tarrin. He's your family.", those words made Tarrin's eyes soften, and his grip falter. He glanced down at Tai with a strange look.

Tai couldn't believe his ears. Amon was trying to save him!

"I-I- no. Master I have to do this." Tarrin's gaze had hardened again, and a snarl grew on his lips. His grip had strengthened, and Tai let out a small choked gasp as the swords bit down harder and deeper than before. Tarrin flexed his fingers, and began to drag the cold metal across Tai's throat, beginning a line of fire that threatened to end Tai's life. It would have been over for him there and then, if a sphere of water hadn't slammed into his brother's side, sending him tumbling into the snow.

Amon and the lieutenant looked towards the disturbance, and as if on command the snow cleared, just enough to reveal a young man wearing the visage of a wolf ready a cloud of ice spikes, and the girl next to him raise two fire wreathed fists at them, her amber eyes blazing with anger and fury.

Tai glanced at the two of them, and nodded. Now that he was free from his brother's grasp Tai could move. While Amon and the lieutenant were distracted he flung his arms towards his feet, and blasted a jet of air from each of his palms. This sent him sliding away from the equalists on the snow, and soon he was back up and ready, running towards his friends.

He noticed how Sensha was swaying unsteadily, and the flames over her hands sputtered unsteadily. She looked drained, and he noticed how pale she had become. Boto was healthier, but his body language told the tiredness and exhaustion creeping up on him. Tai felt the same way too, and suddenly fatigue hit him with the force of a sledgehammer, and he was unsure of how long it would be before before he collapsed.

The three of them stood by each other's side, facing off against the three dark clothed equalists. Amon calmly stared at them, his dark eyes boring into each of theirs, none of them shrunk back from him though. The lieutenant in sharp contrast had settled into a fighting stance that complimented his combat style. He held a kali stick in each hand, and both of them were brought to the front, and angled forwards a little. Tarrin joined his two comrades, and had already unsheathed both of his black swords. He held them loosely by his sides, and scowled as he regarded the three benders.

Both parties heard the sounds of running feet on snow, and two chi blockers joined the standoff. They stood behind Amon, their bolas and grenades at the ready. Amon gave a curt nod, and the group of five ran at the group of three en masse. Boto responded by throwing his arms out wide, causing the snow on both sides of the two groups to bunch up.

The resulting clumps rose into the air before being melted down into water and frozen into ice. Boto brought his hands together, and the heavy spheres flew at the advancing equalists from both sides, they dodged and swerved as much as they could, one of them clipped Tarrin on the shoulder, knocking him over and burying him into the snow.

Another one slammed into the chest of one of the chi blockers, winding him and putting him down. Their numbers were now even, and Boto tried to tip the scales further by sending two of the rock hard balls at Amon. One of them spun over his shoulder and missed him completely, while his last one slammed into Amon's chest. The man showed no signs of pain at all, and broke into a run, drawing closer to the three of them. Sensha danced backwards and unleashed a flurry of fire punches and kicks, while Boto stood his ground and turned the ground between them into slippery ice, trying to make Amon lose his footing. Amon responded by springing off the ground and leaping towards them. He raised his shoulder and turned it forwards, crashing into Boto first, Boto tried to twist out of the way and respond with a punch to his stomach, but Amon had already gripped his hand in a powerful hold, and flung him over his shoulder, sending him sliding along patch of ice. Amon glanced at Sensha and began to take off at a run when a pool of water expanded under his boots and froze into ice, pinning him there. Sensha nodded her thanks to Boto and kept a fair distance from Amon and the equalists.

One of them had set his sights on her and ran forwards, ducking and weaving underneath the constant flow of fire balls and flame jets that spewed from her hands. He flung something at her, and the tip of it sparked with electricity as it caught her on the shoulder, spinning her around and sending currents of jarring discharge into her body. She gritted her teeth and formed a ball of flame, she waited as he drew closer, than side stepped around him and slammed it into his back, the resulting explosion threw her backwards a ways, and sent him rolling into the snow and down the hill.  
When she finally stopped rolling she noticed the brown mask of one of the chi blockers looming over, clutching a grenade and a bola in his hands. She acted quickly, kicking the grenade out of his hand and using his arm as a hand hold to pull herself up with. The man struggled to throw her off, and she responded by slamming a flat palm into his chest, surprising him and making him stumble. She untangled herself from him and whirled around, extending her leg to deliver a scathing kick to his side.

A line of fire ran up her side and she yelped. Another chi blocker was behind her, already spinning a bola in his hand. She threw up her hand to fling fire at him when the nerves in her arm pinched and burned, she hissed and brought her arm back down immediately. She quickly jabbed a few select points on her arm with her other hand, and the fire began to subside. This was one of those times when she was grateful that her grandma was a master chi blocker. Immediately her nerves seemed to hum as she summoned a furiously burning ball of flame in her hand, as if they were renewed and fresh.

She glided forwards, ducking under a spinning bola and twisting to avoid a grenade, her other hand shot out and spun him around, and she jammed to ball of flame into the small of his back. The man uttered a sharp cry of pain before being flung into the snow-blind, and all was still around her for a moment. She took this to catch her breath, and come up with some more plans to deal with the lieutenant who was rapidly approaching her.

His two kali sticks glimmered with electricity as he whipped them towards her side, the basic move was easy for her to dodge, and she did exactly that, almost with a air of contempt. Each move he made became more and more elaborate, culminating with him looking akin to a lightning storm contained n the whirling form of a tornado. She found it increasing difficult to dodge the deadly sticks, and began to slow down. One of them grazed her on the shoulder, and she hissed as even that glancing touch caused her arm muscles to spasm erratically.

She responded by twirling around and sticking her leg out, aiming to sweep the lieutenant's feet out from under him. But he was a experienced fighter, and he hooked one of his own feet under hers and lifted upwards, making her tip off balance, he followed up with a vicious kick to the chest, the force of which forced her back a few steps. She was in a bad situation, and she tried the best to get out of it, she used every conceivable shape and form of fire to deter him. She flung it as roiling orbs, swung it in looping arcs, swept it in a crescent underfoot, she even drew a cloak of flame around herself and expanded it outwards, hoping the expansion of gas would propel him back in a bone crushing heap.

But incredibly he dodged them all, and soon enough she fell to the snow, coughing up blood as her vision flickered and dimmed. The lieutenant merely sniffed once, and walked away, presumably to stalk Tai and Boto in preparation for a sneaking blow. She uttered a singly weak cry before slipping into the black.

The impenetrable grey clouds that obscured the night sky parted for a second, letting the brilliance of a full moon to shine down on them. Boto in particular seemed to perk up, as if he was just hit with an invisible force. His eyes visibly brightened and shone as he grinned wickedly. The equalist in front of him was unnerved by this, and backed off, flinging bolas and grenades at him to deter the water bender from coming after him. The snow around Boto dissolved into water and pooled at his feet, and ten watery tentacles sprouted around him, one of them shot forward, cutting through the grenades and bolas with ease, before slamming into the chi blockers back with a thwack, sending him flying forwards and face down into the snow, coming to a sliding halt near the truck.

He whirled around, meeting Amon and Tarrin head on. Tarrin's swords flashed as they whirled towards him, but Boto stood his ground, and two of the tentacles countered the wicked blades. Tarrin grunted as they were wrenched out of his grasp for a moment, and a third tentacle slammed into his chest, sending him flying back into the snow with a groan of pain. He snapped the tentacle back and swiped it towards Amon, the implacable man ducked under it, managing to get dangerously close to Boto with a almost flippant ease. One of his legs shot out and nearly tripped up Boto, but the pool of water hardened into a gel, and Amon's foot was trapped for a moment. He made a impressed sound before his foot picked up speed again, slamming into Boto's ankle. Boto hissed and sent all of his tentacles forwards. They all wrapped around Amon, and lifted him into the air.

Boto looked into the man's masked visage, and suddenly his tentacles lost cohesion, and fell towards the snow in a shower of freezing water. For a moment Boto's blood had stopped circulating in his arms, and his eyes widened, expecting Tarrlok to burst out from behind.

But nothing of the sort happened, and he noticed a canister drop onto the ground and detonate in a blinding flash. He heard, but couldn't see, the running of feet and dragging of bodies. He gasped in pain and confusion as the sound of a vehicle's engine was heard and the squeal of tires against slippery ice as something drove away from the house.


	18. The Box, and The Return

潮

* * *

Boto shook his head, trying to shake the stars from his vision. His thoughts were slow and groggy as he picked himself up and his legs wobbled precariously as he stood up from his snowy bed, and found himself looking down the hill at the icy barely-there road below. His keen eyes picked out fresh tire tracks, and his perceptive mind saw the absolutely massive furrows carved into the snow that curved past him and down the hill. Well. To _his_ groggy mind it was perceptive.

He moved forward a little, and a flare of pain quickly sprouted from his side, he gasped and covered his side with his hand, thinking for a second he drew it back and commanded a handful of snow to float around it. He converted it into water and then into a blob of glowing liquid. He pressed it down on to his side and immediately sighed as the healing water kicked in. He felt aches and pains all over his body, but he knew the limitations of the healing arts, and some pains could only be healed with rest.

He looked around himself, and felt fatigue creep up on him. He turned around and saw Tai limping towards him with a worried look. "We need to get Sensha inside and warm her up.", with that he turned around and limped towards her unconscious form, hissing every time a flare of pain shot up his leg. Boto nodded and followed.

Tai was trying and failing to hoist her onto his shoulder and tried one too many times, causing him to fall back into the snow absolutely exhausted. Boto clapped a hand on his shoulder as he moved past the air bender. He snaked one arm underneath her, so that her back was supported, and he placed a gentle hand on her stomach, and carefully lifted her out of the cold powder.

Snow was dislodged from her tangled hair, and her nose was flushed a almost cherry pink, her cheeks as well. Boto frowned and slung her over his shoulder, not caring that it played hell on his battered ankle. He put one foot in front of the other, and headed for the dark doorway into the cabin. Tai picked himself up, and limped after him.

The wind howled after them as they entered the cabin's single massive room. The already sparse furniture around the edges of the room had been broken down into many pieces, with a few of them showing scorch marks and charred edges. Although some of them were unmarked or damaged in anyway, and Tai thought that those ones broke because of sheer age. The only thing left standing was a extremely ancient and lucky stool in a almost pitch black corner, and now stood as a testament to the furniture apocalypse that had occurred in that room. Unfortunately it could never tell it's story, since it was a stool.

Boto glanced at him and Tai walked over to the stool, dragging it into a patch of floor near the wall that was lit up by the full moon hanging outside, so that Boto could see what he was doing. Carefully he extracted her from his shoulder and very gently sat her down on the stool, naturally she slumped immediately, and Tai quickly shot forward to grab her and keep her steady. Boto took off his helmet, placing it on the floor nearby.

His eyes were worried as he popped the cap off of his waterskin, and drew out a hefty portion of the water contained inside. It settled into a ribbon in front of him, and his hands molded it into a thick blob, and covered Sensha's arm in the healing concoction.

The liquid shuddered as it worked to heal her arm, Boto frowned as he noticed that something was wrong. "Tai. Can you roll up her sleeve?"

Tai nodded and grasped the cuff of her long sleeved shirt. He rolled it gently up her arm, revealing pale and cold looking skin that was marked by numerous scratches and bruises. Some of the bruises followed a strange pattern, and Tai realized that those ones were caused when Tarrlok blood bended her. Another crime he would pay for. While most of the scratches and bruises faded away or shrunk into small marks, the ones caused by blood bending wouldn't fade or disappear, and all that could really be done for those was to take away the aches and pains that they caused.

He gently placed a hand on her wrist, noting with dread how cold she was. He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling a familiar rush of warmth down his arm, it pooled at his palm, and he quickly stopped it from blooming into an outright spark. He rubbed her arm, trying to warm her up and get her blood circulating.

As he did this Boto guided the healing fluid over the rest of her body, only stopping to roll up her other sleeve before continuing to heal her cuts and wounds. After a while her eyes slowly opened, and she glanced at the both of them. Tai sighed a breath of relief, and Boto smiled warmly, glad that she was awake.

"Are they gone?" Sensha's voice was husky and strained, and she blinked her eyes constantly.

"Yeah. They're gone." Tai answered. He stood up and glanced at the staircase nearby, wondering if she was down there.

"Where's Korra? Is she here?" Sensha asked. She went to stand when Boto placed a firm but friendly hand on her shoulder. She sighed and stilled herself.

"Hold on. We'll look in a minute." Boto turned to Tai. "Tai check downstairs, she might be in the cellar."

Tai nodded, and left him to taking care of Sensha. He limped towards the stairs, and soon was facing down into a cold, dark and imposing murkiness. The moon's light couldn't reach down there, and any light sources that would have added brightness would have burnt out long ago. He gripped the old wizened railing nearby with one hand for support, and descended onto the first step. Immediately it creaked as the ancient boards took the weight of his right foot. He stopped for a moment, wondering if Amon had left a trap down there for him or anyone else, and waited until the creaking had subsided.

He lifted his foot forward and down another step, and once again it answered back with a sharp squeal. He decided then and there that he didn't really care about caution, and went down another step, then down the other and the other until he had reached the midway point of the staircase. The wall turned a sharp corner here, and he could see the side of a imposing metal box, standing at least three metres in height and a square metre in width. He saw that it's corners were held together by thick iron bolts that studded it's length, running from the top to bottom. He went down a few more steps, and his view of the box widened, and he saw the doors on the front were open.

Without skipping a beat he leaped down the remainder of the steps and ran forwards, ecstatic that he had finally found his friend, that he had-

He stopped, hardly believing his eyes, scarcely _wanting_ to believe it.

It was empty. The interior of the walls were scorched and marked with burns, and it was still empty no matter how many times he blinked.

He was too late. Again. His hands curled into fists and he snarled quietly, angry with himself. His fist slammed into one of the doors, and the weak iron dented a little from his anger filled blow. It swung back and forth on it's hinges noisily, infuriating him with it's nonchalant manner. He slammed his fist into it again and again, and continued until the previously smooth surface was now a pock mark of dents.

He failed. He sagged, and looked at the floor. Slowly he turned and laid a foot on the stairs, not wanting to look at tauntingly empty box. He hung his head as he ascended the steps, not wanting to look his two friends in the eyes. They both looked up as he appeared, and immediately noticed the absolutely devastated look on his features, and the sagging manner in which he held himself.

Not a word was exchanged as he stood there, unmoving and silent. He went to walk past them when Boto's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist. Tai didn't react as he did this, and didn't meet the young man's eyes. "Tai. What did you find?" he whispered.

Tai didn't immediately answer, still focusing on the empty box and all that it entailed. Finally, his answer came out as a small whisper. "Nothing."

he shook off Boto's grasp and walked out the door, leaving Boto with Sensha. She bowed her head, while Boto fixated on the door Tai had left out of. The room was silent, and even the wind outside had died down, leaving almost no noise whatsoever. "Come on. There's nothing for us here."

Sensha nodded somberly and went to stand. Boto let her lean on him, and they made their way outside, leaving the cold little cabin to be battered by the elements outside. He saw a shock of black hair disappear under the lip of the hill, and Boto followed, making sure to walk slowly so as not to lose his footing. Sensha shivered and closed her eyes for a moment, before her skin suddenly flushed to a healthy pink, and Boto felt his skin prickle as warmth seeped into him. He nodded his thanks as they stood at the lip of the hill. Slowly he descended, making sure he was in front so that he would catch the brunt of the impact if he lost his footing.

They reached the side of the dark icy road, and Boto walked them right, towards his motorcycle, which was still parked where they left it. Tai was leaning against a tree nearby, looking up at the crisp night sky above. Without a word he walked towards the two of them, and helped him support Sensha. The three of them limped to the side of the motorcycle, and Boto pointed to Sensha, and then to the sidecar. She didn't argue, and nodded. Carefully they helped her step into the cramped little car, and once she was secured, Boto handed a red helmet to her. She placed it on without a word and gave him a thumbs up.

Boto mounted the motorcycle, leaning over the handle bars as he placed his wolf helmet on. He gripped the handle bars as Tai sat behind him, the boy's personal pride stopped him from looping his arms around Boto's waist, so he settled for gripping the edges if the seat. He stuffed his helmet on and stared ahead without a sound. Boto revved the engine and three tires began to roll forwards. They slipped and turned slightly as they worked at getting a purchase on the now smoothed and slicked road, but Boto was good with his driving, and soon enough they were motoring away from the dark little hill of snow that the cabin stood on, and began their journey back down the windswept roads of the mountain.

No one spoke much, and the silence dominated them as the motorcycle sped down the mountain, and the landscape around them began to level out and soften, and soon enough they were approaching a starkly lit collection of stone buildings, with the vestiges of a statue visible over the tops of the roofs. The tires squeaked and the chassis heaved as it mounted the now asphalt road, and their passage was smoother as the tires now had a purchase on the surface.

They left the cluster of lonely buildings behind, and fields of silvery, wispy flowers coated either side of the road, dancing slowly in the winds that tickled their petals. Even these were soon left behind as well, and the spindly shadows of leaf-stripped trees loomed over them, and they saw a ghostly fog hovering over a eerie lake through the treeline.

Another bump was felt by the motorcycle, and they were now on a proper road, which ran in a straight line to the shining metropolis in the distance. No words were spoken at all.

* * *

The lonely cycle's engine made the only noises on the mostly deserted streets of Republic City. At this hour windows were closed, doors were locked, and the only souls still up and about were the kind of ones that made someone pause before heading into a dark alleyway. Every once in a while Sensha groaned as she sat up as straight as she could in the side car. The only good thing that would come of that would be appreciating why Tai hated that seat.

Tai himself stared straight ahead without any expression on his face. The cold wind whipped his growing hair around wildly, but it didn't seem to get a reaction out of him, only serving as a distraction at best. His focus was turned inwards, mainly put towards beating himself up for being too late yet again. Now they had no clues, no leads at all to determine where Korra had been taken to.

And he knew it was all his fault. If he had just been quicker on the highway...he would have stopped this all from happening. He scowled and pushed those thoughts away, remembering a lesson that his mentor had taught him. Never focus on mistakes.

He sighed and continued to watch the surroundings pass by with disinterest. The bike lurched as Boto guided it around another corner, this time pulling out into a large four lane road that ran straight for many miles. Looming over it was a grey building, capped with five iron-clad domes. Many of it's windows were darkened, although a few of them showed blazing yellow light from within. The only vehicles parked in front of it were police issue satomobiles or armored trucks, some of which pulled away from the building as they approached. The sky above it was dominated by several black and silver airships, a fair few were in the process of being guided and tethered to docking berths on the tips of the domes, while others quietly floated away from the building and into the skies over the rest of the city, ready to continue their patrol.

The engine quietly clicked away as Boto guided them down a side street that hugged the building's side, sparsely lit by lampposts which threw warm golden light around them. He turned another corner and they descended down a ramp, and turned again to follow it to a array of garage doors set into the wall. Boto flicked a switch mounted on the bike's handlebar, and a tiny little door to the left of the main garage opened, revealing a tiny but well lit bay. He guided them in, and the slider immediately shut behind them. He switched off the engine, and shook his head free from the wolf helm, placing it on a bench nearby. He dismounted and bent to help Sensha up, while Tai took off his own helmet and placed it on a empty shelf nearby. He leaned against the wall while he waited for them.

Boto glanced at him for a moment, before opening the doors that led to the interior of the police vehicle bay. Tai noticed Sensha was still limping, and went over to help her through without a word. She went to open mouth but she clamped it shut, and merely settled for a grateful smile, he didn't return it, still focusing on what he did wrong.

He closed up the bay before joining them as they walked to the elevator, Tai and Sensha went in first and Boto came through last, pulling on the lever nearby. The mechanism that drove the elevator lurched into life, and the pulley at the top of the shaft activated. Their ride was a short one, as they only needed to wait until the ground level door appeared. With a ding the lift stopped, and the doors opened for them, revealing the predominantly brown lobby hallway. Boto stood up against the wall, sticking a foot over the elevator door's groove so it wouldn't shut on Tai and Sensha.

As soon as they were through he retracted his foot, and they all moved out into the reception area. The seats were filled mostly by waiting citizens, while others were co opted by officers to function as improvised meeting points. As they rounded the corner that led to the reception desk, they saw commander Makei.

Boto walked to him. "Commander."

"Lieutenant. How's the search going?" Makei barely looked up from his paperwork as he spoke, rubbing his good eye every so often.

He went to tell him, but all that came out was a tired sigh, and Makei looked up and saw the bags under his eyes. "Come back in tomorrow, you can give me the report then.", Boto nodded and gave him a grateful salute, before walking back to the others.

"Alright. We'll start again tomo-"

"Uh huh." the curtness of Tai's response all but told Boto that he was too busy focusing on something entirely different.

But he kept pressing. "Go home. We'll see you in the morning."

Sensha glanced at him. "Thanks for helping me Tai.", she was genuinely thankful, but Tai didn't notice.

"Well. See you." he responded. He gave both of them a curt nod and walked past the reception desk, looking to get out of there as soon as possible.

They looked after him as he exited the door, not quite sure of what to say or do.

* * *

Getting back home was easy for him to accomplish. All that he had to do was walk to the waterfront and wait for the air disciple boat to arrive. As he walked across the snow-covered road, his boots sunk into the crisp powder a little with each step, and the resulting crunching sound carried across the night time air, not realizing that it was alone in the night.

Tai mounted the footpath and walked towards the corner nearby, which turned into another lonely and quiet street that held tall buildings on either side. Lights shone from a few of the windows, throwing a disjointed and patchy glow onto the dark street below. The boy kept his face glued to the ground at his feet, and he didn't even shiver as the wind began to blow a bit stronger and faster, carrying bitingly cold air towards him. The only reaction from him was to stuff his still gloved hands into the large pockets on his long coat, and he continued his lost wandering.

He didn't even look up as the noise of someone crying out for help carried to him from the mouth of a alley nearby, he didn't even raise his head to acknowledge that he had heard it and just continued putting one foot in front of the other. He sighed as he rounded another corner, turning onto another street that held another identical set of buildings on either side.

Once he passed those, he rounded another corner, this time a long road stretched out in front of him, docks and warehouses sat on the opposite side, silently standing before the dark waters that lapped at the concrete foundations. Several streets identical to the one he just came out of opened out at various points along the main road and with a niggling thought, he noted that this road probably encircled the whole central island in the same fashion.

He kept walking along the footpath, stumbling a little as he placed pressure on a heaping of snow. The air here was calm and moist, and carried a salty tinge to it that tickled his lips. His feet were the only ones walking along that lonely stretch, and the only observer of his solo journey, was the white orb of the full moon.

After a while his stomach rumbled, and his feet began to sag as he felt tiredness creep up on him. He hadn't actually thought of the fact that he had no clue where the air disciple's dock would be located, but he had guessed that it would be in sight of air temple island, which sat in the bay off to his right. Unfortunately that left a ten block long area to search, restricted to the waterfront but still large nonetheless.

Then again. He didn't feel much incentive to just 'head home' right now. He had a bit of reflecting to do. His shoulders drooped and his eye lids grew heavy as he continued his walk. Everything on him was beginning to weigh him down, his coat felt heavy and constricting, his boots made his movements slow and sluggish. And his sword, his prized sword, began to weigh him down so that he walked at almost a crawling pace, one that which the most heavily afflicted geriatric could outmatch.

Something made him turn into one of the streets that branched off of the main road, leading him back into the central districts and boroughs. These streets were far more clean then the others he'd been down, the snow was collected in neat little hills that hugged the walls of a few buildings, and clung to the curb, but apart from that the roads and footpaths were relatively bare, and the analytical and curious part of him guessed that cleaners made sure the street stayed that way. It then went on to reason that this neighborhood was fairly well off, although the rest of him sighed and pointed out the beautifully crafted satomobiles and the lines and lines of polished stone that made up the footpaths. Chastened, his analytical side promptly shut the hell up, and the rest of him was free to despair and stew.

His well traveled boots almost seemed to mar the polished stone with every step he took, leaving a trail of scuffed marks and dirty imprints that would make the people who lived here cry. His own thoughts managed to lift his expression into a half smile, and despite how low he was at that moment, he almost felt happy.

Unfortunately a good image of rich people's over-the-top reactions couldn't do enough to bring him out his slump. And he sighed as he kept walking. He wasn't sure he could face Tenzin and the others, knowing that he had failed, knowing that she had slipped away yet again. He stopped for a moment. He could run away. Just leave it all behind, like he had done so many times before, he was no stranger to just going without saying goodbye. But he hesitated. For the first time in recent years he felt like he finally belonged somewhere. Tai was tearing himself apart inside with that struggle, and it continued as he rounded another corner, and beheld a strange sight.

The street he was staring down was a stark contrast to the well lit one he had just turned from. It's buildings were large and ungainly, and while it was well lit, the light thrown down was a dirty yellow, and the snowdrifts were much deeper here. It was much more narrow as well, more akin to a exceptionally long alleyway than a street where cars and carriages could move down.

But all of those paled to the five people he saw standing in the middle of the road, all facing towards a large white creature, whose ears pricked up when she smelt his familiar scent.

"Na-Naga?" he whispered to no one in particular. He took a step forward, noticing that Bolin and Asami were standing the closest to him, although they were intent on watching whoever was near the large polar bear dog. He couldn't believe his eyes, and his jaw practically dropped as he noticed Mako, Tenzin and Lin were there as well.

But it was the person Mako was carrying who grabbed his attention the most. Korra. He limped forwards as fast as he could, his mind still whirling at the slim chances that he would find them all in this random street. A small part of him was filled with irrational anger and disappointment though, mainly at the fact of what he had been through the past twelve hours, only to find that of all things, his friend's _pet_ had done a better job then he did.

His hand had curled into a fist, something he didn't realise until he looked down at it. He unclenched it, and kept walking towards them. Bolin and Asami were the first to spot him. "Dude! Where've you been?" Bolin asked, with a genuine hint of concern and...suspicion?

In answer, his mouth hung wide and he found a very irrational urge to punch him in the face. But that was his friend standing there, so he quickly dispelled the violent thought. "Looking...for..." he trailed off as he noticed that Mako had carried Korra onto Oogi's back and had laid her down, even stroking a stray lock of hair out of her eyes. Asami watched this with hurt eyes, and Tai felt a pang of sympathy for her.

Bolin followed his gaze and his face fell for a instant, before adopting that usual grin of his. "Yeah. Naga found her. She's a great dog...Tai?"

Tai refocused onto Bolin's curious face, and he quickly nodded. "Yeah. Yeah she is...uh, how was jail?" Tai desperately wanted to steer the conversation onto a different topic, not wanting to _explode_ right there and then.

Luckily, Bolin obliged him. "Comfy. Although I should tell you, service isn't as great as they play it up to be."

"Huh." He noticed Asami had folded her arms, and her face was sullen as she watched the two of them on the bison. "Asami. Are you-" she glanced at him for a moment, before turning and moving away a few steps from him and Bolin.

Tenzin and Lin finally noticed that he was there, and they walked up together. "Kid. You look like crap." She gently stated.

He wasn't in the mood for a round of verbal combat with the brusque iron lady, so he settled for nodding. Something made him snark though. "Being on the go for twelve hours straight does that to you, rather than sitting in a cell or hospital bed." he regretted his biting tongue instantly as she scowled and folded her arms.

Tenzin arched his eyebrow disapprovingly for a moment, before his eyes softened as he took in the ragged state of his student. "Tai, I'm-"

He sagged and shook his head, his fringe hiding the dark look in his eyes. "No. Nevermind" he saw the concern in Tenzin's eyes, but all he cared about now was going home and to his bed. At least he couldn't fail at that.

"I'll tell you later." he finally said. That softened Lin's iron look somewhat, but she still held the vestiges of a scowl on her. Tenzin sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder, the added weight of which almost made him stumble as his bad ankle protested strongly. Tenzin's eyes seemed to soften when he saw the bags under Tai's eyes, the way his coat seemed to just hang off of him, and how his body language screamed exhaustion and fatigue.

Tenzin saw that his student was wobbling dangerously and he shot forwards, quickly looping an arm around him for support and balance. Lin stood close by as well, ready to help them both. "Let's head home." Tenzin said. Tai nodded, and allowed him to help him over to the bison's side.

Tai felt his master's body flex, and in preparation he grasped his arm tightly, with a slight whoosh they alighted on top of the saddle, a bit a ways from Mako and Korra. He took himself from Tenzin's supporting grasp and sat down, leaning back against one of the saddle's sides for support. A sigh came out and he fought the urge to close his eyes as he settled into his seat. He looked over at Korra, noting the bruises over her arms, and the neat little cut on her cheek. Her tired eyes flitted over to his for a moment, and they seemed to soften for a split second, before they turned back to the worried Mako.

He sighed again and tipped his head back, looking up at the dark swirling clouds that gathered over the city, threatening to blot out the moon's light. He felt the saddle sag slightly as three more bodies jumped on. Bolin and Asami sat down next to him, while Lin went to sit on the opposite side, keeping an eye fixed on the leathery surface of the saddle.

A mass of red fur exploded out of Bolin's popped out collar, and wound it's way over to Tai, settling on his sternum. Pabu looked at him for a moment and tilted his head. Tai noticed the furry little guy sitting on his chest and looked down at him, raising a hand to scratch him under the chin. Pabu chittered gratefully before rising up and licking a scratch on his chin. The ferret's rough tongue managed to make him chuckle a little, and Pabu departed for his safe house in Bolin's shirt, seemingly having accomplished his objective.

Bolin glanced at him for a moment. "So. What did happen?"

Tai looked at him for a moment, consciously trying to ignore the curious look growing on Asami. "I looked for her."

"That's not very informative."

Suddenly Tai had an urge to snap. "Yeah well, maybe I don't want to tell you!" his outburst silenced Bolin for a moment as he frowned. Tai sighed and scratched a spot on his neck. "Look sorry, it's... not right now, okay?", as he watched his friend nod and fall silent, his mind ran through images of Tarrlok, Amon and his brother. Unconsciously he loosed a growl as he dispelled the images away. To try and distract himself from the dark thoughts he glanced at Asami, who was watching Mako with saddened eyes, Korra stirred for a moment and mumbled something, and Mako quickly fretted over her, even though she dropped back into sleep a second later. Asami's eyes narrowed and she folded her arms together and turned away, she noticed Tai's glance but didn't care, dropping into a foul mood.

The conflicting emotions of five teenagers on board wasn't lost on Oogi, who grumbled as he coasted along the freezing air currents above the city's buildings, the city dropped away to allow for a dark expanse of freezing water as they flew out across the bay, heading towards a barely lit island, a blue and white tower acting like a marker for Tenzin to guide the sky bison towards.

* * *

_Air Temple Island._

A group of orange clothed men and woman ran down the stairs as Tenzin guided Oogi to land at a spot near the foot of the massive stone staircase, a few of them were laden with bandages and assorted medicinal aids, and a group of white lotus guards followed them closely, having eyes only for the brown skinned girl who lay unconscious on the bison's back. Tenzin stood up and walked over to Tai's position, helping him down to the ground. Lin hovered by the two of them, feeling a bit unsure of what to do with herself.

Bolin and Asami followed, before Mako stood up, cradling Korra's limp body in two arms. He didn't show any strain of supporting her, as his golden eyes only focused on her and her alone. Even as the White Lotus guards moved to take her away from him he shook his head, and the fire in his eyes made them back away grudgingly as he walked up the steps, carrying her all the way without slipping.

As Tenzin guided Tai up the steps after them, he noticed that a group of low, rectangular buildings had been smashed to pieces. His eyes widened and he glanced at Tenzin. "Where am I going to sleep?",

Tenzin followed his gaze and nodded as if he expected the question. "Naga was a bit...unruly before she ran away to find Korra.", Tai's jaw dropped as his thoughts turned to possible sleeping arrangements, as he all desperately wanted right now was a bed to sleep in and rest. "Don't worry. You can take one of the rooms in the men's dormitory, there's a spare next to Mako and Bolin's rooms." Tai nodded slowly.

"Lin. There's a spare room in the women's dormitory. Don't think I won't forget you're meant to be in the hospital.", he gave her a smirk/.

Lin folded her arms together and scowled. "Fine." her gaze softened. "Thank you."

They reached the top of the stairs and saw Mako almost barge through the main doors, anxious to get Korra inside. Asami had her arms folded as she walked in after them, immediately turning left to head for the women's dormitory. Bolin scratched the back of his neck as he headed down to the right to the men's.

Tai took a step on his bad ankle, but it didn't protest like before. Sighing with relief he glanced at Tenzin. "Thanks for walking me, Master.", he went to extract himself from Tenzin and he obliged. He limped a little as he headed down the hall after Bolin. Stopping he threw a questioning glance at his master. Tenzin nodded, telling Tai that this was the right direction.

He left them behind as he walked past a couple of closed sliders, only stopping when Bolin went into what was his, and closed the slider. Tai saw a open one just before it, and one after as well. He chose the one after as he noticed the tumbled sheets of the bed in the one before.

He limped in and shrugged off his sheath, leaning it against a wall as he sat down on the freshly made bed. He bent down to grasp the tip of his boot, ignoring the tiny flare of pain as he fought to wrestle it off of his foot. His toes came free and he wiggled them experimentally, before repeating the process again with his other foot. He found himself looking around the room, noting that it was larger then his previous housing. He guessed he was grateful, but then again he didn't have many possessions with him that required much space.

With joy he felt the warm crisp sheets fold pleasingly under his hand. He gripped the edge and threw it back, tearing himself away from just sleeping there and then he took off his weather beaten long coat, absently his fingers poked at the cuts and tears along the sleeves and torso material, and he realized that he would need to get it repaired before wearing it again.

He folded it up neatly, and stowed it underneath his bed before stretching and flopping down onto the soft mattress. He sighed appreciatively as he stared at the wooden paneling above him, he glanced at the lantern nearby and flicked it off, filling the room with darkness. He closed his eyes and drifted away into a troubled sleep.

* * *

潮


	19. Bedside Manner

潮

* * *

Her vision went black every few seconds, as she lost the strength to keep her eyes open and see the worried face of Mako looking down at her. When they were open everything she saw was in a haze, his voice was close, yet sounded as if he was shouting from across a storm over a icy sea. Soft light dug into her, and she fought the urge to keep her eyes shut forever. She notices more than one worried face around her, and one of them, a old kindly woman, looks down and smiles warmly. She wants to smile back, to show that she's okay, but the darkness swallows her again. Her eyes open once more and she notices she's being moved through a door frame. The room smells fresh, and Korra thought she could detect a hint of medicinal herbs, but like everything else, her sense of smell was battered and beaten.

She noticed she was moving away from the wooden paneling, and she felt the soft clutches of the mattress grab her, and on instinct she sighed with relief. This made Mako look down at her with those worried eyes again, and in a moment of fierce pride she thought of slugging him in the chin to stop him from worrying so much.

A trio wearing orange robes walked into the room, and began fussing over her. After them two white lotus guards followed. One of them, a short man with large black side burns pointed at Mako and then jerked his thumb at the door. Mako scowled and folded his arms, she heard him say something along the lines of staying by her side. But the man answered by rolling his eyes and nodding at his taller and younger companion. The young man apologized to Mako and grabbed his arm, dragging him out of the room. The older man closed the door and shook his head, taking a post nearby incase anyone barged their way in. The trio of orange robes went to work, unrolling bandages, dipping sponges in warm water and beginning the process of healing her wounds. She thought about asking the white lotus guard to bring Mako back, but the look he had on him discouraged her, and she was feeling the grip of sleep anyway.

She began to slip into a doze, and although she could still hear the sounds of her healers fretting over her she didn't care, and turned inward. Her thoughts struggled to break away from the specters she had faced in that cellar, and she guided them towards images of her friends. She wasn't certain about what she was going to say to them, or even what they were going to say to her, but she couldn't stop focusing on two in particular. She knew that Tai had appeared out of the blue when everyone found her, she saw the hurt look in his tired eyes, and how on the edge his body was. She shook the confusing thoughts away, and drifted into dependable, always-there sleep.

* * *

The blinds in her room glowed as the full brunt of the rising sun's light was captured by them. Outside the sky was beginning the lighten and the dark clouds were beginning to lift, and the city was about to receive the gift of the early morning sun. If Korra was awake and listened hard enough, she would be able to hear the distant chattering of lemurs somewhere on the island, and the quiet munching and grumbling of sky bison herds. But the girl in question was sleeping, and a elegant stream of saliva was gracefully flowing out of her mouth. Her hair, which usually would have been done in a ponytail to contain at least some of her hair, was now unleashed upon the world in a great expanding dark brown mat that was currently splayed out on her pillow.

Slowly, her eyes opened, and she registered the wooden paneling that signaled that she was in a friendly place. She blinked twice and rose immediately, only to lay back down when her sides burned like crazy. Experimentally she lifted a edge of her shirt to see why, and groaned at the line of bruising running up her side, almost like someone had stamped her with black faded ink.

Huffing she let her shirt fall back down, and stared up at the ceiling for a moment. She really hated it when she was confined somewhere, corners were _especially _reviled. She rubbed her eyes after a while, and turned over, now staring at a wall that was the exact same shade the ceiling was. Her eyes narrowed and she turned around yet again, this time facing towards a sliding door and bench that were still coated in that infuriating color. Her chest rose up and down in steady rhythm as she laid still for a moment, beginning to dwell on what had happened to her in the past few days.

She shivered. And almost felt like crying as she remembered the cold touch of Tarrlok's blood bending grip her. She closed her eyes for a moment, and breathed a long and deep breath. Next time she was at the south pole, she would talk to Katara about her encounter, resolving to never place herself in a situation like that ever again.

Her thoughts were shoved to the side when she heard a series of sharp raps on the sliding door, the sun was shining on it, and she saw a tall and reedy figure standing just behind it. "Come in." she said, her voice was weak and strained and she was surprised at how different she sounded. The door slid open, revealing Tenzin's slightly concerned face. He stepped through, grabbing the door and closing it gently. He saw the empty chair nearby and veered straight over to it, sitting down without a word.

After a few moments of silence he spoke, his tone warm and concerned. "Are you alright?"

She propped herself up using her elbows, and gave him a lopsided smile. "You ask me that a lot Tenzin."

No smile came to him, and his tone was serious. "Korra."

Her face fell for a moment and her gaze wavered. She looked down. "I will be." she said in a small voice. She shook her head as she drew her legs close. "Go ahead. Lay into me."

"I won't do that. You've had a rough time." Her master, teacher, and friend showed only concern, not even a hint of anger.

She felt like shouting at him to get at least _some _reaction out of him. "That's it? All I get from you is a _rough time_? You should be ashamed of me!", she felt tears sting her eyes. His hand fell on her shoulder and stayed there, providing a audience for her venting. "I-I went over there to free them, and suddenly he was all over me and- I _failed_!" she laughed bitterly, but he still didn't react. "I was scared the whole time!" she lowered her gaze, and she gripped the sheets tightly as her eyes moistened. Her tone was soft, almost like a whisper. "But I'm safe now right?" she looked at him for help. "_Right_"?

He responded by pulling her into a tender embrace, she didn't protest, and buried her face into his shoulder. His voice was calm. "Yes. You are.", she answered him with a sob, tears continuing to roll down her cheeks, some of them dampening a few spots on his shoulder. "Thank you for finding me." she whispered.

He nodded. "Everyone was worried. Even _Lin_." the way he said her name, in such a incredulous and surprised tone, made her laugh a little, and he noticed the tears had stopped flowing for the moment. She raised herself a little, wiping away a few of them from her cheeks. Tenzin smiled. "Are you finished?", she gave him a lopsided smirk, and he saw her eyes regain a little of their old selves. The hints of confidence and grit were coming back.

She punched him softly on the shoulder. "Yes. I'm _finished_."

"Good, you were ruining my favorite set of robes!" he was teasing her now, but she was grateful for the good-natured ribbing.

"They all look the same Tenzin." She smirked, feeling better at seeing his ridiculous reaction.

He sighed and rubbed a hand down his face in mock outrage."My ancestors take _offense_ to that."

In response she rolled her eyes, another sign that she was starting to feel like herself again. "I think they'll give the _Avatar _a pass.", she stuck out her tongue, and Tenzin chuckled.

She tried to twist to the side but gritted her teeth as a flare of pain shot up her side. Her master sighed as he leant forward, and picked up the pillow she was trying to reach, he fluffed it and placed it back in it's place, and she nodded her thanks. "You know, being injured won't get you out of training."

She crossed her arms. "Oh I'm looking forward to it.", eager to focus on something so familiar where she was in control.

Tenzin nodded. "I always thought that attacking Tai seemed to give you some satisfaction.", his eyes were bright and amused as he said this.

Korra chuckled, but the mention of her friend's name, and her memory of seeing the state he was in the night before dampened her mood. "I need to thank him. For a lot of things.", her mind went back to that night at city hall, and her hands bunched into fists. Tenzin fell silent, a serious expression on him. She glanced at him. "He went there you know. While in the back of that truck, I saw him, he was using a glider to catch up," A tear fell out of her eye, dropping onto the sheets as those horrible hours came back to her. "He nearly stopped the truck, but then Tarrlok used his bending to...to." she stopped for a moment, before nodding. "Before he threw Tai off the edge of the highway.", her hands wringed the edge of the sheets into uneven rolls. "I thought he _died_."

"Korra. He's fine. It's alright." he reassured her, but Korra's voice came back in almost a tearful whisper.

"It's because of me he did that, he made that decision because _I_ put myself in danger.", she noticed that Tenzin's eyes were hard.

"Korra. Stop beating yourself up and grow up. That was his decision alone to make. If I was in his position, I would have done exactly the same thing. As would have Mako. As would have Bolin and Asami. You shouldn't blame yourself.", his response left Korra stunned and almost speechless. Her tears had stopped, and she just stared at the wall in front of her.

After a while she glanced at him. "Tenzin-"

"You know what I felt when I heard what happened? I felt _scared_. But most of all, I felt _responsible_. I could have prevented him from capturing you if I was there!" Tenzin hung his head, leaving Korra to desperately think of what she could say. But nothing came up. He looked up again, a determined gleam in his grey eyes. "I won't let it happen again."

She lifted a hand towards him. "And I won't do anything like that again." she smiled as he smiled back. "Promise."

A few moments of the type of silence that only students and teachers could share descended. But it made neither of them uncomfortable. Rather, it did the exact opposite. Tenzin cleared his throat, and clapped a hand down on top of hers. "Rest. I'll be back later."

She nodded as he rose. He glanced back at her, a twinge of worry mixing in with warmth in his eyes. He sighed and left the room, and Korra, to their own devices.

All she could hear was the sound of her own breathing, with the room answering with silence. She took a few minutes to digest his words to her, but her eyelids began to lower again, and she found herself yawning and the image of herself resting looked increasingly appealing to her. Finally she relented, and lowered herself back into the sheets, falling into a relatively untroubled sleep soon enough.

* * *

She was roused by a thudding noise, making her blink and grunt in annoyance. The warm pocket of pleasant air trapped beneath her sheets begged her to stay still, to continue lying there in a state that promised absolute rapture if she didn't move a muscle. For a few moments she was torn, between moving and not moving, between keeping her peace or opening her mouth. With a sigh she made her decision, as the door rattled slightly from being knocked on.

Her voice was a little stronger this time, sounding more like herself. "Yes?" she called. The door shuddered for a moment as whoever was behind it made a surprised noise, and must have hit the door in his or her alarm. She folded her arms, and arched an eyebrow, and put on a disapproving face so that she could possibly guilt trip to intruder into leaving her in peace. A squeak answered her, and a furry mass of red ran across the floor and hopped onto the bed. She smiled down at Pabu and scratched him behind the ear, as Bolin poked his head through, and broke out into a sheepish grin. He stepped through as gently as he could, moving forward until he saw the empty stool near her. She nodded, and he sat down, although had a bit of difficulty getting comfortable on the relatively narrow seat. He fidgeted and moved around for a few moments, before managing to get into a position that accommodated him quite nicely.

"Hey." he said in a small voice. She rolled her eyes and punched him on the shoulder, making him wince a little. "Ow. What gives?"

He rubbed the sore spot as she laughed. "Just needed someone to cheer me up."

Bolin may have been smiling, but his eyes were still full of concern and worry. "You've still got your muscles." his tone was light and playful, but she noticed his anxious body language.

She laid a hand on his, stilling him immediately. "Bolin I'm fine.", she reinforced her point by coughing violently, and some part of her noted that doing that _didn't_ reinforce her point.

"Sure you are." he hung his head, obviously blaming himself for what she had done. "What that maniac did... no one should have to feel. Least of all you.", he pulled his hand away from hers for a moment, running it down his face. "It's my fault." his voice broke for a moment, betraying him as she looked at him with a mixture of concern and guilt.

"Bolin, wait. Please?", the boy's head rose a fraction, and Korra took that to mean that he was listening, if only _just_. "I'm the one who went off alone. I'm the one who ran into a trap blindly. If anything, I failed you and the others." she sighed.

"Korra-" he went to reach forward, but she shook her head.

"Bolin I failed you and everyone else! Okay? I was dumb, I was reckless, and- and- I should have done more to stop them when they arrested you!" she hung her head. "I'm not _perfect_." No tears fell from her eyes, even though she desperately wanted them to. Pabu chittered and licked her cheek as she sighed, absent mindedly stroking him. "You shouldn't treat me like that. I don't deserve it."

His hand grabbed hers again, and she looked up in surprise at his bright green eyes. "Korra, you did the right thing. You stood up to him when no one else could! I don't think I'm the only one who thinks you're the most bravest person ever!", suddenly his eyes twinkled as he leaned in close. "And you know what? I don't care what you think, you are the most perfect girl I know. Remember when I said you were the most talentedest and incrediblest girl in the world? I wasn't joking." he sealed it with a cheerful grin, and that lifted Korra's mood instantly.

She giggled. "Of course you weren't joking, I _am _that great!", Bolin smiled and chuckled, while Korra adopted her trademark smirk. His face grew serious for a moment as he stroked his chin. "Hmm. I don't know, I think I need to see some skills from you before you can claim the title.", she was about to answer his challenge with a mighty boast when she noticed the small scraggly strands of black hair poking out from his jawline. She arched an eyebrow. "Bolin. You need a shave!"

His face reddened and he gasped before hiding his 'shame'. "A man's hair should be wild and free Korra!"

She folded her arms and tilted her head. "Uh huh." she said, now going over plans about how to hound him every chance she got.

He glanced at her, using what could be called a critical eye. "Well...how about your ponytail?" he leaned in close, holding a hand up by his mouth. "_Looks a little lopsided_." he grinned at his victory, only for her to grin and punch him lightly on the shoulder again. He yelped and rubbed his shoulder. "Yeah I deserved that."

"If it helps. I think you look better clean rather then hairy." She poked his cheek for emphasis, poking her tongue out in mock disgust at the scratchy feeling her fingers felt.

He grinned and nodded. "You think so?"

She adopted a deadly serious face, and leaned in close. "Bolin. You're _hot_.", his eyes widened for a moment, before he burst out into laughter, holding his sides as he doubled over. She blew a bang out of her face as she leant back in her bed, her mission done.

After a few moments he quietened down, and smiled at her. "See you soon Korra.", she squeezed his hand for a moment, before letting him go.

Just before closing the door he glanced at her. "Make sure Pabu doesn't mess up your room okay?", she grinned as she looked down at the ferret, who was curled into a ball and sleeping peacefully.

"Oh he's a real _terror_." She thought of something for a moment. "Bolin. Thank you.", she saw him nod with a smile.

"Any time." he said, she thought she heard a weirdly nervous tone, but she dismissed it.

The door slid shut and she sighed, although this time it came out as happy and content. She laid there, looking through the window to see the island brightening as the sun shone it's full brilliance down. What she could see of the sky was a bright blue, and she couldn't see any clouds in sight.

After a few minutes of quiet thought, she dozed off again, and a few more hours passed.

* * *

A strange chattering sound roused her _yet again_, and one blue eye snapped open. In it's depths were a mix of annoyance, the threat of elemental violence, and a overlay of extreme wrath. Her other eye opened and she audibly growled. She sat up in her sheets, her mouth set in a very unimpressed line. She scratched at a spot on her hair, not noticing that some of her hair stuck out in odd angles. Pabu squeaked in alarm as his resting place shifted around.

She threw back the sheets, rolling a little to untangle herself from the cottony cocoon. She misjudged however, and fell onto the floor with a thud. Growling, she covered her hand in flames and stood up. She walked towards the curtains, and Korra threw them back to reveal her nemesis.

A gang of lemurs were perched on the tree just outside the window, and they all stared at her with wide green eyes. Her eye twitched as they began chattering again, and she stood there frozen, thinking for a moment she may have gone a bit far by setting her hand on fire.

A knock at the door made her whirl around, and she quickly extinguished the flames. "Uh. Yes come in!" she squeaked. She winced as the words left her, and she silently gasped as she saw the state her hair was in. Quickly she licked her palms and slammed the rebellious mass down, and it partially worked. She suddenly felt light headed, so she quickly walked over to the bed, pulling the sheets over her.

The door slid open, and Mako was there, holding a tray with a bowl of some kind of soup sitting on top of it. He stared for a moment, distracted by the strangeness her hair showed. "I-I brought some lunch." he said, he walked forwards, still eyeing the oddly arranged hair the whole time.

She sat up, giving him a tired smile. "Yeah, bed hair..."

Mako nodded and laid the tray down on the bedside table nearby. He sat down on the stool, leaning forwards a little. His eyes searched for something, and they settled on the bowl of creamy colored liquid. He indicated it rather unnecessarily. "Soup."

As she leaned over to grab the tray, she felt a flare of pain shoot up her side, and she dropped it with a clatter, gasping and narrowing her eyes. Mako shot forward immediately. "Korra!"

She held up a hand and fell backwards into the pillow. "It's alright. Just hurts a bit."

He didn't lean back though, and his eyes were full of concern. "You sure?"

She eyed him. "Yes Mako..."

"I'm just- we're all worried." he sighed.

she managed a tired smirk. "Some a little more than others?", trying to hide her messed up feelings with confidence.

His eyes widened for a moment before his cheeks tinged, and he scratched the back of his head. "Uh. Maybe..."

They both went quiet for a moment, Korra noticed Mako quickly glance over his shoulder, as if he expected someone to come barging in. She looked at him. "Mako. Where's Asami?"

He stared at her for a moment, before folding his arms together. "I don't know." he answered dismissively.

Korra summoned up the energy to scowl. "Uh. Shouldn't you?"

Suspicion was on his features. "Why should I?

She hesitated for a moment, not really certain if Mako knew just what he was saying. "She's your girlfriend.", she noticed his scowl.

"So? You need help. You're injured."

"Mako..." she began, before he interrupted her. "What Korra? What do you want me to say? That I'm avoiding her? That I don't like her? _Tell me_.", his sudden outburst made her blood boil, and she felt like laying into him about everything. What he was doing to Asami. What she felt for hi-

She gasped as another flare of pain hit her, falling back into the bed. The fire in Mako's eyes disappeared, turning to concern and worry. "Hey. Sorry about that."

Korra felt incredibly guilty as she looked at him. "I should be apologizing. Not you."

He nodded. "Korra. I'm a bit of a mess. I-" he looked down and swallowed. "-I don't really want to think about that right now." she smiled, and grabbed his hand, squeezing a little. No words needed to be exchanged.

After a few moments she let go, and glanced at the soup, gaining a hungry edge to her eyes. "Soup huh?" she went to lean over when she hissed as her side pained her again. Mako grabbed the bowl off of the tray. "Let me.", Korra sighed. "Just this once."

He grasped the spoon and fed her gently, as carefully as he could. Unbeknownst to the two of them, a long haired girl was standing just outside the door, unable to move or think as she looked into the room. She tore herself away from watching them and left down the hallway.

* * *

He sighed with relief as the warm and pleasant dishwater enveloped his bruised hands. He manipulated the cloth in his hands, holding a dish while he wiped it clean of any marks or leftovers. Luckily for him, air nomads were well known for devouring everything on their plate or in their bowl, himself included. He placed it on the rack, and barely looked up as Asami stormed in, a very dark look on her. She wordlessly grabbed a tea towel from a hook nearby and began drying, her motions a bit vigorous.

"I think that plate's clean, Asami." he noted. She glanced at him, and he saw another imagined death waiting in those eyes. He thought he should stop imagining himself dying. Seemed a little morbid. That night's rest did a world of good for Tai, at least now he could move without anything hurting, but he found that if he tried even a few basic movements for air bending, he would ache and prickle all over.

So for now, he took it easy, and helped out around the place where he could. Which led to him being stuck in the kitchen drying lunch's dishes. When he first offered Pema resolved to do it herself, but Tenzin stopped her on account of the baby being due any time. A new airbender. It made his head spin every time he thought about it. He decided to help take over her duties for the next couple of days, as well as Jinora, Ikki and Meelo.

Bolin said he would help once he got back from seeing Korra, but that was about a hour ago or so. As his hand entered the water again to reach for a temperamental soup ladle, his gaze darkened. Asami noticed this. "What's wrong?"

He glanced at her. "Nothing." he said unconvincingly.

His lie failed, and only served to pique her interest. "It's Korra isn't it?"

He accidentally dropped the soup ladle as he dragged it from the warm water, and it clattered to the floor. Cursing his clumsiness he bent down to pick it up. "Like I said. It's nothing."

Asami scowled. "You're beginning to sound like Mako."

Tai glanced at her with a offended look. "I take offense to that.", she shook her head and grabbed another plate, going back to drying. He didn't like the hurt look in her eyes whenever she mentioned or spoke about Mako. "Sorry. Although it sounds like you have a problem as well."

The girl sighed as she opened a cupboard nearby, placing the plate inside with a multitude of others. "Yeah, maybe I do."

"So spill it, rich girl.", he smirked as that got a rise out of her.

She turned around, folding her arms and leaning against the bench, looking at the wall behind them. "She's my friend. And I shouldn't be feeling like this.", he deposited the soup ladle in a drawer nearby as he watched her. "Like what?" he ventured. She sighed. "Like a jealous freak."

That stopped Tai for a moment. He saw that her eyes were sad as they continued to focus on the wall. "You don't seem like a freak to me. Or jealous for that matter." he hesitated for a moment as flashes of Mako cradling Korra came to him, and he unknowingly clenched his hand.

"It's not even Korra's fault. I don't want to hate her, yet, I kind of do." she stared at the floor for a moment, and began wringing the tea towel in her hands.

He looked down at the water. "Yeah I know the feelin-" she looked at him, and he regretted letting that slip. "Go talk to her than."

Okay. He wasn't expecting that. He arched an eyebrow. "Can't. Have work to do."

She eyed him suspiciously. "You like her don't you?"

Tai vowed bloody revenge on his cheeks when they flushed red. "What kind of crazy idea is that?" he began, then he stared down at the water, and he realized it. "I guess I do." he finished. He noticed Asami had a triumphant look about her. "So why don't you talk to her?

"Because right now she's with someone else. I can wait." he said. Wanting to get off of the topic he began to scrub at a massive pot nearby, focusing on getting rid of the scuffs and marks and char. A hand fell on his shoulder, and he sighed.

"Talk to her Tai.", he relented and turned around. "You...think it's a good idea?" she looked away for a moment before nodding. "I think it wouldn't hurt.", a light of curiosity suddenly appeared in her eyes. "Tai. That night, why were you wandering the streets?"

He looked away. "I needed a walk.", he saw her fold her arms. He relented. "I-I spent the whole day trying to find her-" he almost laughed as a image of Oranis, Tarrlok and Amon sprung up. "I mean. At first it was to get you three out of jail, but then...it got personal for me when I found my brother at Tarrlok's cabin." he looked down, not wanting to see the sympathetic look she had. "And after all that, after fighting the Agni Kai's, after fighting Tarrlok, and after being beaten by Amon, she wasn't there." he looked at her as she nodded. "I don't know if you've experienced something like that. To put effort into something and have a completely different result turn out." his words came heavy and fast, and he realized that he was talking more to himself than Asami. He glanced at the warm soapy water in the metal basin nearby, and nodded. He put a hand on her shoulder for a moment, before leaving her alone in the kitchen, walking out without a word.

* * *

Cold winds blew across the island, signalling the rush of frigid air that accompanied Republic City's winter nights. The sun had dipped well below the horizon by now, and the moon was well on the way to it's seating in the sky. Clouds were relatively scarce, which served to make the nights bitterly cold since they couldn't provide a warm blanket that kept out the colder air that billowed about higher in the sky. Although it did serve to make the stars stand out spectacularly, so at least one could marvel at how pretty they while being frozen.

Lights across the island winked on one by one, with the main structure and it's tower the most well lit. Inside that structure, air disciples and nuns relished the warm interiors as they set about their usual tasks.

In one of the buildings, a family of air benders and their stay-in guests were preparing to sit down to dinner.

Pema went to heft the large steaming pot nearby so she could carry it out into the dining room, before Tenzin stopped her and grabbed it instead. She didn't complain and settled for a tired nod, Mako was hovering nearby with Bolin at his side as they followed Tenzin towards the table. Asami trailed a little behind as she busied herself grabbing a handful of spoons, forks and knives. She tried not to catch Mako's eye when she was around, instead preferring to stew in silence over the growing rift between them.

Someone bumped into her from behind, and she whirled around, seeing Tai holding two empty bowls and two spoons. He quickly apologized and went past her into the dining room. She smirked to herself.

Mako and Bolin sat next to each other, one dunking strips of meat into the soup with relish, while the other stirred his slowly with a spoon. Mako looked up from his soup stirring as Tai entered the room. He watched as he walked straight to the soup pot and began pouring mixtures of it into the two empty bowls he cradled. Mako arched and eyebrow, wondering who the second bowl was for. After a while he nodded to everyone and left the room.

* * *

Tai left quickly, not wanting to catch the of anyone in there as he headed out into the hallway. He found a door leading outside and headed through it, instantly regretting that he was dressed only in his grey short sleeved shirt, he thought about heading to his room to grab his long coat, before he dismissed it, since the building he was looking for was now only a few steps away.

He stepped through, back into the warmth of the brown hallways. He turned left, heading past a pair of closed doors that held laughter and voices within. At the end of this hallway was a large sliding door set into the wall to his right, there were others as well that ran past him, although they would be unoccupied.

He stopped for a moment outside the door, hesitating as he stared at the two bowls of steaming mixture in his hands. He looked up and nodded, and loudly cleared his throat, enough for the person within to hear him.

A strong voice answered him. "Come in."

Balancing on one foot he snaked the other around the edge of the door, and slid it across, revealing Korra sitting in her bed. He stopped balancing for a moment and stood there quietly, she stared at him and then the soup bowls, and a large growl came from her stomach. She smiled, embarrassed, and he stepped through, lifting his foot to close the slider a little.

"Hey." he said. He moved forward and placed one of the bowls on the table nearby, and stood there for a moment next to the stool. She nodded and he sat down, placing the remaining bowl on his lap. He grabbed the spoon sticking out of the mixture and twirled in his hands for a bit.

They sat there silently for a bit, until finally one of them spoke. "Thanks for the soup."

He nodded. "Couldn't- uh- let you go hungry." he shifted the wrong way, and his side flared in pain. A pained groan escaped from his lips.

Korra looked away for a moment with an oddly guilty look on her. "You're injured."

He glanced at her for a moment. "Nothing I can't handle."

She nodded and kept silent, reaching for the bowl nearby, the way she stretched obviously pained her a little, and he place his bowl back onto his lap, before grabbing the other bowl and handing it to her. "Thank you." she said in a small voice. She swirled the soup for a bit before putting down her spoon and sighing. "I let you down."

As she said this, his mind went back to the events on the highway, particularly the scream he heard when he fell into the streets below. "No, It's the other way around."

She shook her head. "I shouldn't have gone there alone.", she blamed herself for what happened. Suddenly she looked at him, a question on her lips. "Are you alright?"

Suddenly he felt the urge to snap at her, to lay into her about what happened to him while trying to find her. He gave in. "Am I _alright_? Korra. I was out there the entire day, with Sensha and Boto, looking for _you_. I faced down a angry gang of firebending _maniacs_, I was flung around like a ragdoll by _Tarrlok_, and I nearly died against Amon and Tarrin. NO I'M NOT ALRIGHT!", he was breathing heavily for a moment, and in that moment he didn't care about the shocked look on Korra's face.

The next few seconds were unbearably quiet, but it was broken by Korra casting her eyes downwards and nodding. "Sorry." she mumbled.

He froze, and his eyes widened as tears fell onto her sheets. "No, no. Korra. You don't have anything to be sorry fo-"

She looked at him, suddenly incensed. "No, I do! I nearly got you killed because I was stupid enough to let myself get caught! I failed you! So go ahead, shout at me! Tell me why I suck! I deserve it!" Tears streamed down her cheeks, each one of them feeling like a punch in the gut to him.

"I won't do that." he stated. He searched himself for a moment, then sighed. "I'm sorry. It's just...doing all of that, then finally getting to that cabin and realizing that you were too late?" he hung his head. "Guess I just wanted something to go right for once." He wasn't sure if he should say any more, wondering if she already knew about- no, he wouldn't burden her with that. She's been through enough.

As he looked down, he noticed the tears had stopped dropping onto the sheets. A hand clamped over his. "I'm sorry. Next time I'll make sure Naga won't rescue me ever again."

Despite himself he laughed. And it sounded incredulous and incredibly out of place as he looked up into her eyes. "You know, I found her at City Hall that morning. Told her to head back home. Animals never _listen_."

She laughed as a small smile broke out over him. "Tai. Thank you."

"I have to tell you. Fighting three master water benders during a full moon is no fun either." he laughed. He noticed the curious look she was giving him. "On the way to the cabin. We stopped at a abandoned village for a rest. Than these three northern tribers appeared. I think their names were Tonrik, Pendra and Yurig-"

"Wait. Tonrik?", the way she said his name, almost like a growl, didn't escape him.

"You know him?"

She scowled and folded her arms. "He's a slimy weasel snake I had the bad luck of meeting a few years ago. Back in the compound."

Now he was interested. He leaned in a little. "Yeah? And what did Boto think of him?"

She looked at him. "Same as I did. Some high-and-mighty rich kid from the Northern Water Tribe who was a utter brat."

He nodded. "That fits. He threw a ice spike at my head." he noticed the concerned look in her eyes and he held up his hands. "Don't worry. We kicked their asses!" He fell silent, and she didn't respond for a few seconds. But this time the silence was much more bearable then before. He cleared his throat and gestured to her bowl. "So there's your food, and you only have to ask if you need anything." He winced inwardly, hoping she didn't catch his slip. "From any of us." he added quickly.

Korra smirked. "Thank you Tai."

He rubbed the back of his neck and stood up, aiming to leave as fast as he could. "See you Korra."

She made a few sounds that were muffled by the soup she was cramming into her mouth. He nodded, not trying to understand any of it but taking it as a goodbye. He closed the door behind him and walked back down the hall, pretending not to notice the golden pair of eyes that watched him approach.

* * *

潮


	20. The Tension, and The Spar

潮

* * *

She sighed with relief, patting her belly after just downing a generous helping of noodles. In front of her was a table laden down with all kinds of meats, vegetables and fruits, all there so that she could regain her strength. Pema smiled as she finished another plate of food, setting it down with a clatter next to a cup of drained lychee juice.

"Mmm. The food tastes amazing Pema. I'm starting to feel like myself again." She clasped her hands together and inclined her head. Pema smiled as she stood up, striding over to take her finished plate. Tai was leaning against a wall nearby, still caught on how she had managed to devour that much so quickly. He found his jaw hanging as Korra glanced at him and smirked. He clamped it shut, and grinned.

"We're so thankful you're home safe." She said as she took the plate and moved towards the kitchen door.

Without warning Asami stood up and followed her. "Let me help." She grabbed a few empty bowls and plates, nodding at Korra and Bolin, and rather pointedly avoiding Mako's eyes.

They left the room, just as Bolin quickly snagged a sweet roll from one of the plates near Korra. He chewed on it as Tenzin spoke. "Korra. I realize you've been through a lot, are you ready to tell us everything that happened?", Tai's spirit sunk when he noticed the flash of fear and insecurity flicker across her features, something usually so alien to her. Mako kept his gaze fixed on her as well while Lin leaned forward a little, her curiosity shining through.

Korra lowered her gaze for a moment before nodding. "Well, first off, Tarrlok isn't who he says he is." She paused for a moment, seeing everyone's expectant faces. "He's Yakone's son."

Tenzin leaned back for a moment with a shocked look. Lin was slightly more composed, more perturbed than outright surprised. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "It all makes sense now. That's how Tarrlok was able to blood bend us without a full moon.", as she spoke different emotions and thoughts ran through everyone's minds and hearts. Bolin shivered on instinct as he remembered the cold gripping sensation, Mako scowled as he lost control of his limbs, unable to do anything. Tenzin narrowed his eyes as he remembered the sensation of movement and freedom being stripped away from him, while Tai's sides hurt as a physical reminder of his encounter on the highway and train station.

Tenzin nodded. "But how did you escape? And where's Tarrlok?"

Korra sighed. "Amon captured him. And took his bending." everyone exchanged shocked glances or worried looks.

But he was especially concerned. "What?"

She looked at him. "Yeah, he showed up out of nowhere. He almost got me, too."

Tai looked up, scanning everyone's faces for a second before speaking. "I was with Boto and Sensha; we got there just after Amon arrived." Tenzin and Lin nodded; Bolin arched an eyebrow, while Mako scowled. He glanced at Korra, who looked a little guilty, most likely remembering what happened to the airbender.

Tenzin's brow creased. "This is very disturbing news. Amon is becoming emboldened. Taking out a councilman, almost capturing the avatar… I fear Amon is entering his endgame." Everyone nodded, sharing his point.

Tai watched as Bolin, Mako and Korra exchanged worried glances. He looked away and at the floor for a moment, considering plans and ways to get to him and finish him for good. Korra noticed his dark look, but quickly looked back down when he saw this, grabbing a cup of tea nearby and downing it in one gulp. Mako saw this and held up the pot. He shook it experimentally, then stood up and left for the kitchen.

As he disappeared through the open doorway, Bolin and Korra exchanged nervous glances, knowing what was about to come.

Tenzin cleared his throat to get theirs and Tai's attention. "Korra. If you're up to it I'd like for you to do a sparring lesson today. Nothing strenuous, just a few basic moves and techniques. Tai. I'd like you to come along as well."

Tai stepped off the wall and nodded. "Can do, Master."

Lin spoke up. "Tenzin. If you'd let me I'll do some sparring as well." As she said this she looked at Bolin, like the way a shark watches a soon to be devoured fish. "Bolin. I understand you can earth bend?"

The earthbender looked up from chewing the sweet roll and slowly nodded, although a bit reluctantly. "Uh yeah…"

The look she shot him was one of devilry and evil. And Tai reckoned Bolin shriveled a little inside. "_Excellent_. You'll be training with me." She smirked as the boy gulped. He looked to Korra for help. She smiled apologetically.

They were interrupted by two raised voices coming from the kitchen. Asami appeared to be winning. A few seconds later she stormed out of the kitchen, pointedly avoiding looking at any of them, particularly Korra. Mako came out as well, scowling as he headed towards the table. Tenzin stood up.

"Asami. A minute." He said. The long haired girl stopped just as she laid a hand on the door, she released it and turned around, looking at the floor. Mako went to speak when Tenzin silenced him. "You as well Mako." That shut him up, he scowled as he folded his arms.

"How about a sparring session?" as soon as he said that they looked at each other, each one holding fire in their eyes.

Almost working as one entity they turned towards Tenzin."Fine." They both growled. They looked at each other before tearing away. Asami opened the sliding door and stormed out, while Mako sat down near Korra, rubbing a hand down his face.

Tai chose this time to stop leaning on the wall, and looked at Tenzin. "My sword us allowed?"

"If it stays sheathed." He answered. Tai nodded and walked out of the room, heading down the hall after Asami. When she reached the main entrance junction she turned left, heading down the hallway leading to the women's dormitory.

He kept going straight, moving down into the men's dormitory towards his room at the end. He came to the sliding door and threw it open; he went straight to his long coat, which sat on his bed in a tangled mess. He snatched it and shrugged it on, buttoning it halfway. He grabbed his sword, laying safely in its sheath and propped up against the wall.

He thought about putting on his sword belt, before deciding against it. He won't be traveling far, and it would only serve to slow him down. He rolled it up and stowed it back into it's resting place near his spare socks.

With the sheathed sword in hand he walked back out of his room, and headed back through the main entrance room. The air was biting and cold as it carried freezing winds, and he was definitely glad that he decided to wear his coat. He came to the steps, going down them two at a time, on occasion he had to stop as someone carrying a heavy crate or box moved past him. He found flat, level ground and his boots clacked slightly against the grey stonework that made up the grounds of the temple complex.

He found that there weren't many people moving from place to place, most of them either staying in the dormitories and other buildings or keeping warm in the cluster of green houses nestled nearby. He passed in front of the massive stone steps that led to the the temple itself, a large and tall spire that was the highest point on the island. He continued on, moving up a ramp that wound it's way up to the upper portion of the island. As he reached the top, he stopped for a bit just before the circular training arena, struggling with a button that had decided to come loose. After a few seconds he was rewarded with a clasping noise and he walked towards the central part of the arena, a wide open circle, decorated with the yin and yang symbol so common to air nomad architecture.

He found a spot nearby and sat down, drawing his coat tighter around himself as he waited. Luckily it wasn't long, as he saw Korra and Tenzin heading towards him, followed by Lin and Bolin. He stood up as Korra stopped next to him, with a nervous look to her.

"You look spooked.", she glanced at him before sighing, jerking her thumb at the arguing couple that just reached the top of the ramp. Their bickering was loud, loud enough to rouse a flight of lemurs nesting in a tree nearby, they all chattered irritably as they left the leafy confines, soaring over their heads towards the undisturbed broken off segment of land that faced towards the arena, from across a empty gulf. He noticed that a single lone lemur was left behind, distracted by a white orb that it was attacking. Tai grinned and shook his head.

Asami huffed as she stormed towards the five of them, avoiding their eyes. Mako repeated her actions, only he went to stand next to Tai and Korra, scowling.

Tenzin sighed and stepped forwards, and turned to face them all. "Right...I think a demonstration from two experienced benders would be a good start. Lin?"

She unfolded her arms and walked forwards, stopping when she reached the black dot on the white half of the yin yang symbol. She positioned herself so that her legs were placed fairly wide apart, and her feet were firmly entrenched, unyielding and unbreakable. She exhaled and nodded, smirking as Tenzin moved onto the white dot on the black portion. In a stark contrast his stance was loose, and his body swayed gracefully as he extended a open palm forwards.

She chuckled. "This takes me back!"

He nodded. "Ready Lin?"

He was answered by a quartet of tendrils snaking towards him at high speed, their travel causing the air to whistle. He twisted to the side and flicked his hand, knocking them away with a slight pall of wind. With hit other hand he fired off small but strong blasts of air, Lin ran forwards, and retracted her wires. Most of the blasts hit her in the chest, and they barely ruffled her hair. She smiled as she twisted to the side and stomped downwards, a chunk of earth rose upwards to knee height, she sent it sliding forwards. He hmphed as he hopped over it and windmilled his arms, he threw them forwards and a raging tube of air snaked towards her. She responded by stomping both feet, and a wall that just reached above her head rose up, blocking the wind completely. She smacked her palms down on the ground and threw them forwards, a trail of cracking earth ran towards Tenzin's feet, and his eyes widened briefly, he used a gust of air to propel himself into the air, he looked up as a wire wrapped around his wrist, he grunted as he was pulled downwards towards the ground by a smirking Lin. Her face fell as she noticed the wicked look on him as he formed a cushion of expanding air under the wire around his wrist. She grunted with effort as she fought the keep his wrist ensnared. But the air won out and she retracted the wire, sending her three others to replace it.

They snapped towards him from the side, and he managed to twirl out of the way of the first two, the heavy head of the last one slammed into his side, making him lose his balance and stumbling. She grinned as the other three whipped back towards him, wrapping around his wrists and waist. Lin walked forwards a little, and Tenzin opened his mouth. A massive gust of wind slammed into her stomach, sending her flying back a few meters, she was experienced however, and momentarily transformed the hard rock below her into a spongy cushion. She landed heavily, her chest rising up and down as she laughed. She got up and looked at Tenzin, who was smirking.

He was breathing hard, and swayed a little. Lin nodded and gestured for him to move back to the side lines. She affixed Bolin with a steely gaze. "Bolin. You're up.", he stepped forwards cautiously, throwing pleading looks at everyone he could. Asami was still looking at the ground, so she wasn't much help. Korra's smile was apologetic while her eyes were full of amusement. Tai stuck an encouraging thumb up, which Bolin took as a good sign and smiled. Then Tai's face turned to a wicked look, and he chuckled darkly as his thumb made a slow and agonizing descent towards the ground. Bolin's face fell. He looked at his final chance, and Mako rolled his eyes.

Bolin walked past Tenzin, who clapped him on the shoulder as they passed each other. He made a face that one would usually find in the waiting room of a terminally ill patient. The middle aged master rejoined the others.

Bolin's stance was nervous and unsure as he stood there, eying Lin with some panic. For her part Lin was composed and calm, and she smirked. "Lighten up, _earth__bender_.", he narrowed his eyes and swallowed. He was most definitely _not_ going to make the first move, his mom told him that always ended badly. Better to watch and react. Lin started, she ran to the side, keeping to the perimeter of the yin yang symbol as she trailed a single tendril of wire. Bolin didn't move, instead watching her draw closer and closer. She twirled, utilizing the momentum to swing her wire out in a large arc towards his side. He ran in the opposite direction, raising small earthen discs and flinging them at her unprotected side. She responded by slicing the oncoming projectiles in two with a wire from her other hand, and sent it towards his chest. Bolin grunted and dropped into a roll, when it finished he was kneeling. He slammed both palms down onto the ground, and then brought them together and thrusted them forwards.

A massive trail of churning earth ran towards her feet at great speed, she smirked and dodged the amateur move, before being blind sided by a rocky spire that her foot slammed into, sending her tumbling. He took this opportunity to advance towards her, raising a quartet of discs to be thrown at her. Being the gentleman he was, he waited for her to stand back up, she had a small smile on her as she swiped a pair of wires at his feet, he hopped over them as he pumped his arms, running around her side while flinging more discs at her.

Her wires retracted, and a slide on her boot revealed the pale sole of her foot. She closed her eyes and stomped downwards, bringing her palms together at the same time. Three blocks of stone rushed upwards in front of her, she flung her hands forwards and they rushed at him, he responded by bringing his hands together and extending them at a point to his side, before sweeping them back across to his front. A growing spike of earth punched out of the ground, getting larger and larger as it closed in on the three blocks. It had just reached it's full size when it collided with the first one, barging straight through it and continuing to the second. Chunks of it broke away and it shuddered as the second one fell. The third one almost undid it entirely, and it managed to hold together before breaking apart into a pile of dirt and stone. Bolin's chest heaved and he felt sweat rolling down his brow.

Lin ran forwards, and as she did so the rocks and chunks in front of her rose into the air and rushed at him as missiles. He took a step back and flung his arms up, calling a roughly made pillar of rock to rush up in front of him. The swarm of earth slammed into it's front, breaking a few loose chunks off of it a before they were all stopped. He lowered his arms and ran to the side, at a noticeably slower pace then before.

Lin took the opportunity to advance before stopping for a moment, a flash of inspiration in her eyes. Her wires slammed into four points around Bolin, and the metal lengths grew taught as she breathed out and closed her eyes for a moment, they flashed open.

The effect was massive, huge squares of earth rose up and rushed towards Bolin from all sides, boxing him in and preparing to crush him. Mako saw this and ran forward, before being stopped by Korra. She shook her head while he scowled, before sighing and stepping back. He still had a worried look on him.

They slammed together with a resounding and earthy thud. Dust exploded out of the small gaps in the corners, and everyone waited with bated breath for a sign of movement. Lin retracted the earthen walls, and her face fell. A cracked and crumbling stone box, tall enough and wide enough to comfortable hold only a single person, stood there. Inert and quiet.

The ground behind her opened up, and a dirt encrusted face appeared, his green eyes twinkling with the thought of victory, and a devilish smirk on his face as he rushed out of the ground, two earthen discs sitting in his palms. He slammed one of them into her chest armor, and while the blow didn't hurt her that much, she still cried out as she was thrown back a fair distance. Bolin stood there for a moment as she recovered, holding up her hands in defeat.

She wiped a bit of dust and sweat from her forehead as she panted. "Not bad."

Bolin lifted up a arm, capping it off with at a thumbs up and a tired grin. After getting back some of her breath she straightened, looking him in the eye. "Sloppy. But definitely there." she smirked as he melodramatically pouted.

"Natural talent, miss Bei Fong." He boasted, his pout quickly changing to a little grin.

She folded her arms. "That will only get you so far. You need training, something a bit more involved then pro bending, that's for certain." Next time she was down at the station, she would for vacancies in the academy classes.

He nodded. "Sure thing."

They both turned at the same time and headed back to the sides to rejoin the others. Korra clapped him on the back as Bolin stood next to her. "Good job Bolin!"

Tai smirked as he glanced at him. "Could use a bit of a wash though."

The earthbender rolled his eyes. "Says the guy who wears that coat 24/7."

He smiled evilly as Tai narrowed his eyes. "It's a keepsake..." Korra sniggered, drawing his attention. "Oh, you think that's funny do you?" He grinned evilly at her. "You and me." he jerked a thumb at the training circle.

A competitive light entered her eyes. "Alright then. You're on!" she extended her pinky and thumb out, and pointing at him in that strange gesture he was certain only she used.

He rolled his eyes and shrugged as he walked towards the black dot on the white half he called back to her. "Hope those aren't just words!"

She flashed some kind of strange kind of gesture at him as she settled onto the white dot. He arched his eyebrow. If that was supposed to intimidate him somehow, well, she would be sorely mistaken. It was then compounded by the evil look in Korra's eyes. Well. That _did_ scare him a little.

* * *

He kept a easy smile on. "Well. Ladies first! Can't wait all day.",

As she rocked back on forth on the balls of her feet, he held onto his sword's handle with a two handed grip, compensating for the added weight of his scabbard. He tugged on the lips to make sure it wouldn't fly off mid combat, he didn't want to hurt her _that_ much. He actually didn't want to hurt her at all.

She surprised him by running to the side, something which she almost never did, usually opting for a straight forward assault. He tracked her as she ran the perimeter of the yin yang symbol, firing small balls of fire at him. He dodged to the side, letting the first two fall uselessly onto the stonework before blocking the third with the fire resistant leather covering his sword.

She wagged her tongue as he saw her stomp a foot on the ground, he was lifted into the air by the force of the earth punching upwards beneath his feet. He smirked, glad that she had just put him into his natural element. He twisted and threw his hands out, blasting a firm gust of wind towards her, she twisted to the side and unleashed a few kicks of fire, a short pulse wind from his foot blew them away into nothing. He landed and he ran forward, holding his sword out to the side and sweeping it across, the crescent shaped mass rushed towards her, forcing her to roll forwards over it, she stepped out of the roll and quickly twisted to the side, calling a stream of dirt from the ground to blind him with. He clamped his mouth shut to avoid it going down his throat and he ran forwards to get out of the stream of dirt.

But she expected that, and leaped at him with both fists aflame. He dived to the side, landing on the ground, her foot stomped down and her flamed punches flew at him, he rolled out of the way of danger and flipped around, catching her exposed foot with the tip of his boot. She hissed and danced away, now with a bit of a wobble in her footing.

He smirked and pressed his advantage, holding his arms out wide and bringing them together. A wave of wind blew outwards from him, quickly scattering the floating dust away, and clearing the air around him. She dove at him, her hand encased in a gauntlet of rock, he twisted to avoid it but it managed to catch him on the shoulder, he gritted his teeth and then yelled as she managed to get a hold on his collar.

She threw him over her shoulder, but he managed to curl into a crude roll, hissing as his bruised shoulder caught the brunt of the shock and impact.

Bolin watched the two of them tumble, next to him Mako scowled. "He's getting a bit too physical.", Bolin didn't hear him though, and kept watching the two of them spar.

He dropped the sword, and it clattered to the ground noisily. Stepping over it he walked forwards and twirled and spun, releasing bursts of flame and gusts of wind in a sustained barrage. She defended herself by raising up a column of earth, a central square of it stuck out slightly, and he twisted to avoid it as it rushed towards his chest. The flames extended from his palm and onto the earthen wall, it licked at the edges, and sputtered as he struggled to keep it going while his other hand worked on a massive gust of wind. Korra took action, and the wall broke apart. She moved her hands to the side, and his control of his flames disappeared. The stream of fire whirled around her, and behind her back, slingshotting around to be thrown at Tai. He threw up his hand, creating a wall of spinning air that stopped the flames from getting through to him.

He heard her panting as the flames died away, leaving him with the view of a dirt and sweat encrusted girl in front of him. He swayed as he realized he was tiring as well, and quickly released the air sphere so it wouldn't be a unnecessary drain on him. She gave him a tired smirk as he watched her sweat pull away from her, and form into several browny and grey colored balls of liquid. As he advanced, she sent them spinning towards him. They thudded into his chest, each one forcing him to slow down. Each one feeling like a marble being thrown at him. He held up his arms and kept walking forwards, drawing closer and closer. She gritted her teeth and a ball of fire formed above her hand, she swiped at him, but he countered with one of his own. fragments of rock enclosed around her other hand and she clenched it into a fist and punched at him. He twisted awkwardly, not even flinching as it slammed into his wrist, leaving a series of bruises and cuts. He hissed as he used his injured hand to force her hand back, her other hand flew into his chest with a open palm, winding him a little. He took it and grabbed her shoulder, spinning her around and over her shoulder.

She forced a grunt out of him with as she jerked his coat's collar towards her, bringing them both tumbling to the ground. They rolled and fought each other, Tenzin would have stopped it, if they could see what was going on. Korra growled as her fist crashed into his cheek, he coughed and managed a swift kick into her stomach.

He gritted his teeth as he fought to build a cushion of air over his palm, grunting as she elbowed his wrist in response. "So I guess you've still got issues!"

She growled, her eyes blazing. "You're still pissed!"

If he could laugh he could. "I think I have a right to be!"

He was answered by another punch, this time into his stomach. He sputtered and growled, but her hands clamped down on his shoulders, and her superior strength overpowered him. All was quiet for him as he found himself staring up at her. She did the same, and he felt her grip slacken. He realized that she had him pinned to the ground, and he was unable to move either his arms or legs. They heard someone coming, and the dust encrusted air around them began to clear up. She reddened and looked away, while he stared at a point in the sky, trying not to look at her.

Unfortunately for them, everyone could see them now. Asami's eyebrow was arched, but she didn't say anything, Lin was rolling her eyes and she shook her head. Bolin gaped at the two of them, looking like he was about to cry. Mako settled for glaring, particularly at Tai, who pointedly kept his gaze upwards. He looked back at her and coughed sharply. She rolled off of him and quickly stood up, brushing herself off as she walked at a brisk pace towards the steps.

Tai rubbed the back of his head as he sat up, wondering what the hell just happened. A part of him noticed how he always managed to get into the most uncomfortable situations possible. He stood up, and swore he could see a smirk on Tenzin's approaching face. He stood up with a slight grunt of pain, and walked off the circle heading past the others to the steps behind where they stood. He avoided everyone's looks, keeping his eyes right on the ground, he also had his face slightly turned away from them, so they couldn't see his furiously blushing cheeks.

He noticed that Korra was seated on the opposite end of the row and accidentally caught her eye. Immediately he looked away, feeling very weird right now.

* * *

Asami wordlessly stepped up to the circle, settling on the black dot. Mako moved as well, although a bit reluctantly now, towards the white dot. She watched him like a hawk. Without any ceremony at all she ran towards him, Mako twisted to the side as she flung a open palm towards him, his eyes boggled as her other hand gripped his collar in a iron hold, and she spun him around and onto the ground. He rolled to avoid her stomps, noting that she going a bit extreme. "Asami-" he quickly raised his arms to block her fist, "-You don't think that's-" he managed to duck under her swing, but then the breath was taken out of him as her foot crashed into his stomach. He rolled away, breathing heavily as he felt his blood rise. He tried to clamp down on it, not wanting to hurt her, but she obviously wasn't thinking the same about him. She ran forwards and swung her leg at his side, he went to grab it when she whipped it back in instant, and he found his hands scrabbling to catch air. Her other leg rose up and caught him in the side, making him stumble. "Hey!"

She ignored him and continued her assault. He was forced back by the surprising strength found in each blow, and pretty soon his forearms began to numb from the repeated strikes. They began to sag as he tired, and one of her blows broke through and caught him in the chin, sending him tumbling to the ground. Picking himself up he growled, a blaze growing in his yellow eyes. "Fine. If that's how you want it!", he danced backwards and unleashed stream after stream of fire. Asami pursed her lips and twisted under and around them, drawing closer and closer to him. He responded by widening the flames, and they covered a greater area in front of him. She gritted her teeth as sweat began to run down her forehead, she ignored it and ran forwards, ducking around a sloppily formed ball of fire, rolling under a stream of flames, quickly closing the distance between her and Mako.

Mako growled and loosed a furious barrage of flames, she dodged to the side and lunged forward, grabbing his collar and pulling him towards her. His nose nearly brushed against hers for a moment, before it actually brushed against the ground. Violently.

He shouted with pain and rolled, managing to get tangled around her legs, he used this to his advantage, and pulled her down as well. She oofed as she landed on top of him. They raged and tumbled across the ground, neither one able to get the advantage over the other. She narrowed her eyes as she found herself looking a bit too longingly into his eyes, she wanted him to break it off with a fist or some kind of distraction, and inside herself she sighed.

He would never do that. But something forced her to hit him, to attack him, to paint him as the source of all of her frustrations and problems. She hated herself more and more as her fists rained down on him. She saw the desperate look in his eye, and she hesitated. Her chest heaved as a single tear rolled down her cheek, cutting a path through the dust and grime. Shakily, she touched a finger to the single tear, and stood up, running from the circle, from the stares of the others.

She especially didn't want to see Korra looking at her. She kept running, not looking back until she found herself alone near the cliffs that overlooked the pier. She sat down on the edge of a lonely bluff nearby, and buried her face in her hands, sobbing.

* * *

Mako stared dumbly for a few seconds, still trying to comprehend what happened. He rubbed a sore spot on his head as he sat up, groaning slightly as his shoulders ached as well. His girlfriend could hit _really hard_.

At the moment he hated everything about himself. He looked at his bruised hands, remembering his anger as fire burst forth from them. He stuffed them under his armpits and stared a spot in the ground, not even looking up as a shadow appeared over him. A large forearm, bulging with muscle, and a surprisingly lean hand hovered above him, waiting expectantly. His brother spoke. "Mako. Come on."

Bolin's hand stayed as still as a rock as he waited, not moving a muscle. Reluctantly he reached up and grasped it. Immediately he was pulled up, with Bolin showing no signs of strain or effort. His little brother always was stronger then he was. He stared down at the ground, trying to avoid Bolin's attempts at talking to him. Tenzin and Lin walked towards the two of them, a slightly worried look on him. Lin hid her worry _much_ better then he did.

"Mako. Are you alright?" he asked, brotherly concern spurring him on.

Mako's hands clenched as a image of him firing flames at Asami came up. "I will be." he mumbled. He shook off Bolin's hand and walked away from the three of them, not wanting to listen to any of them try to placate him or reassure him, or say anything really. He headed up the steps, not even stopping to glare at Tai as he usually did.

* * *

Night fell over the island, and the freezing winds had discouraged anyone from heading too far way from the warmth of the buildings. Lin, Bolin, Tenzin and his family had gathered for dinner, and everyone chatted and talked among themselves. Until Meelo and Ikki asked questions about the four empty seats next to Bolin and Lin. The bowls in front of them sat unattended, with the soup spoons and cups next them untended and unfilled.

Meelo stared at the seat next to Bolin. "Where's the other guy?", Bolin looked up from his soup and glanced at the empty seat next to him, and sighed. "Mako wasn't hungry Meelo.", the bald little boy narrowed his eyes and folded his arms together. Then he pointed at the next empty seat. "What about pretty-hair lady?"

"Not hungry-", Bolin was interrupted by Ikki, who stared at him with a petulant look. "Where's Korra and Tai?", Bolin looked at her for a second, swirling his soup. "Not hungry either.", Pema smiled apologetically at him, before looking at her two youngest. "Okay guys. I think Bolin's answered your questions! _Got it__?" _Meelo nodded and went back to wolfing down his soup and lychee juice, while Ikki's face seemed to be bursting with curiosity. She sighed and went back to her food, pouting as she nodded.

Bolin went back to his soup, and found that he suddenly wasn't very hungry anymore. He stared at the creamy depths for a while, and stood up from his seat. "I, uh, I'll be back." he nodded to everyone and left the dining room, heading out into the main hallway. He passed a white lotus guard, greeting him as they passed each other. He reached the main entrance room and headed down into the men's dormitory. Most of the doors were closed up and shut tight, with both his and Tai's the only ones that were still open. Mako's room was closed, and he moved up to the wall next to it, listening for movement inside.

He grew curious when nothing upon nothing was heard. He opened the sliding door, revealing an empty room, the only occupants being a fairly neatly made bed, and a pair of socks laying on the floor near it. He grimaced and closed the door, turning around to head back into the main entrance room. He thought about looking for Korra or Asami instead, and flashes of him running from the fiery glare of a avatar was enough to stop him. Instead he walked outside, shivering a little as the cold hit him.

He headed down the steps, thinking of where his brother could be hiding. He looked at the tree nearby, and shook his head, walking further out until he reached the large open space that connected all three parts of the island's temple. He walked towards the ramp that led down to the pier, spotting Mako leaning on the finely crafted rail, watching the dark waters below. "Hey."

Mako barely tilted his head to look as Bolin leaned on the rail with him. "Bro.", he sunk down a little, resting his chin on his arms.

He absolutely had to know what happened before. "Mako, I'll be blunt. What happened?"

His brother looked at him for a instant before turning back to the dark waters. "None of your business, Bolin."

Bolin sighed. "I'm not a kid anymore, you could have hurt each other!"

Mako whirled on him. "Yeah? You think she was just going to hurt me? Bolin, Asami was trying to _wreck_ me!", he went back to looking at the waters, his fingers tightly gripping the rails.

He nodded, already seeing what was wrong. "Was it because of Korra?" he said quietly. He heard silence from his brother.

Then for the first time since standing there, Mako actually turned and looked at him. "I don't know what you're talking about." he said, managing to convince neither himself or his brother.

Bolin glanced at him. "When we found Korra, what did you do?"

Mako looked away for a moment. "Bolin-"

"No. We all saw how you acted, but you know what she did? What _I _did? We turned a blind eye. For Korra."

His brother chuckled bitterly. "Bolin, this isn't about your cru-"

Bolin growled. "No! I just can't stand to see Asami like that! Mako you idiot, did you even stop to think of how your _girlfriend _felt when you stayed at Korra's side?", he saw guilt dawn over his brother. "No. Obviously you didn't."

Mako straightened and looked at his younger brother, directly in the eyes. "What do you want from me Bolin? To say sorry for looking after a friend? Or is it because you only want to be with Korra yourself?"

He folded his arms as Bolin's cheeks tinged a little. His younger brother hesitated. "What I want, is for you to be sure you aren't hurting anybody."

Bolin walked away, leaving him to stand there. Mako thought about running after him, to apologize, but his stubbornness wouldn't allow it. He grumbled to himself as he turned to look back the dark waters, growling as the wood underneath his hands scorched and burned.

* * *

潮


	21. The Quiet, and The Surprise

潮

* * *

Tai woke with a groan, disappointed that sleep had a time limit to it. With the speed and agility of a cow-walrus his fingers scrabbled across the sheets, making the slowest journey possible towards the edge. With an almost lethargic effort they grabbed the sheets, and he nearly passed back into sleep from the effort of throwing them off of him. Slowly he sat up, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

He stared at the wall in front of him for a moment, usually his thoughts would be ablaze with ideas and sarcastic observations, but currently they were about as witty and fast as well… someone would be just after waking up. The boy scratched another spot on his neck and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, his feet dangling for a moment before touching down on the wooden floorboards, which were cool and pleasant to the touch.

He tipped forwards a little, craning to see the state of the sky outside the single window in his room. A particularly heavy drop of rain smacked against the window pane, managing to shake It a little. Tai rubbed his eyes and blinked twice, then sighed.

Doesn't look like they'll be able to get much training done today.

He stood up from the bed, stretching a little as he slid the door open, heading out into the warm hallway. As he moved past Mako's closed room, the one next to it slid open, revealing Bolin, looking as lively as ever.

Tai stopped for a moment, waiting for him to catch up. "It's the middle of winter, right?"

Bolin nodded, scratching Pabu on the chin. "Uh yeah?"

The airbender nodded, before smirking as he folded his arms together, nodding at Bolin's choice of sleepwear. "Singlet and _shorts_?"

His friend huffed. "What about you? Grey shirt and black pants? Is it all black and grey with you?"

Tai chuckled. "Not at all. Sometimes I have a bright orange _sash_ to compliment the whole outfit."

They both stopped for a moment, then laughed, walking together towards the main entrance. "Tenzin got anything planned for you today?" Bolin asked.

He shook his head. "Nope. Though, considering how well that little sparring match went yesterday, I can't blame him."

Bolin's eyes lost a bit of their cheer as he answered. "Yeah.", he looked away for a moment, and Tai glanced at him inquisitively.

"What's wrong?" He had an idea about it, but it would be better for Bolin to say it rather than him.

"Nothing." he lied. Tai arched an eyebrow, unconvinced. Bolin sighed. ", It's just…I went to Mako about what happened during his match, and things got a little messed up." His shoulders sagged as Pabu squeaked and licked a spot on his chin.

"Say no more. That's private stuff there Bolin." Tai said as he stopped just outside the hall that led to the dining room and kitchen.

As Pabu nestled back down onto his collar, he nodded. "I s'pose you're right…"

Tai looked at him. "When are you going to talk to him? He'll only get more stubborn the more you wait."

"I know…" Bolin lifted his head. "I'll do it after breakfast."

"Alright."

There seemed to be a spring in Bolin's step as they walked down the hallway, nearing the almost-empty dining room. They walked past the table, the only occupants being Jinora, Ikki and Meelo.

The young and bald boy eyed them as they moved past. Bolin arched an eyebrow and Tai shook his head. The sounds of a massive pot being stirred reached them as they entered the kitchen.

"Morning, boys." Pema said as she stirred the almost concrete..

"Hey Pema." They both said. Tai wrinkled his nose a little. "That's not porridge is it?"

She smiled in answer. Bolin piped up. "Pema, don't take this the wrong way, ma'am, but…" he noticed the dark look forming on her. He laughed nervously, rubbing his neck, and backed towards a kitchen counter nearby. "I think I'll…have some toast. Heh."

Pema lost the dark look and sighed. "I know…tell you what, I'll talk to Tenzin about getting some…_extras_… for you guys." She laughed. "Sometimes he forgets that not everyone only eats vegetables!" she gasped and doubled over in pain for a moment, breathing heavily. They both moved to her side as fast as they could but she waved them off. "It's fine! Just a little kick." She grimaced as she felt a stab of pain.

Bolin and Tai's faces showed no sign that they were convinced. "Pema…"

She held up a hand. "It's fine. I can handle it.", she saw the concern on them. "Guys. I'll be _fine_." reluctantly they both nodded.

Bolin stepped away to rummage through some of the cupboards. "Where do you keep the toaster?"

He sounded like he didn't expect an answer when she laughed and pointed to a door near his leg. "In there. We _do_ keep with the times Bolin."

As he pulled out a very shiny and very curvy toaster, the boy laughed. "I didn't insinuate that at all." He looked at himself in the metal's reflection, nodding very appreciatively; his eyes practically sparkled as he stared into the silvery surface. "Is this new?" he being answered by Pema chuckling.

Tai sighed and rolled his eyes. He spotted the hem of a red cloak as it disappeared into the hallway. "Uh. I'll be back soon guys." He excused himself and left the two of them in the kitchen, walking past the kids as they talked among themselves.

He poked his head around the corner, and saw the red hem again as it moved behind the doorframe and outside. The sound of Oogi complaining about something again let him know that Tenzin was going somewhere. As a student of his, Tai felt compelled to find out.

Luckily only a fair breeze was present as he headed outside, finding himself under the cover of a walkway that connected to another section of the temple. A path cut the walkway in half, and he saw Tenzin and Lin conversing nearby, standing near Oogi.

The idea of putting on his long coat called to him irresistibly, and he headed back inside, walking down the hallway to his room. He found it where he had taken it off last night, sitting just under the bed, he bent down and picked it up, shaking away any creases and folds in the thick material as he poked a hand through a sleeve, sliding it on. A few seconds later he walked out, feeling very secure in his long coat.

He wondered briefly if that was weird.

He shook the thought away and left the room. Rather then seeing Pema and Meelo walk out of the dining room, he _heard_ them, particularly Meelo's laughter, and someone shouting in alarm. He would asked Bolin later on.

After they had moved outside, he approached the threshold of the main entrance room. He stopped for a moment, and heard the sound of Oogi taking off. Well that cancelled any training plans he had for today.

He stepped outside, seeing Lin standing there with Meelo wriggling in her hands. He thought about ducking back into the warm hallways, well aware of having first hand experience with Meelo the _humanoid typhoon_. Unfortunately his decision came too late, as Lin smirked as she walked towards him, with Meelo being dangled on the end of one of her wires.

Tai backed away from the advancing woman, quickly looking around for a avenue of escape. That fell through when Lin stood in front of him, a devilish smile on her. Tai folded his arms. "Yes _Lin_?" he noticed a desperate glint in Lin's eye, before it disappeared. "Nuh uh. I don't do bath time."

The devil-woman narrowed her eyes, and Tai felt a familiar feeling in him surface, the feeling of a weapon being unsheathed. Then they softened as she sagged. "Care to assist me?" she arched an eyebrow. "Not like you have anything else planned today, _right_?" she said that part as more a command rather then a suggestion.

Despite his misgivings Tai nodded. "No. I don't. I'll help."

Lin nodded and walked past him into the building, the wires shaking slightly as Meelo began doing mid-air somersaults and rolls and occasionally blowing puffs of air into Lin's face, making her grumble. Tai couldn't help sniggering at his display, drawing a dark look from her in the process.

"So...do you actually know where the baths are?" Tai innocently asked.

"Of course I do. I have been here before." She answered with a little bite in her tone.

"Fair enough."

Lin led them through a doorway that led to a wood paneled room, with a bathtub built against the windowsill in front of them. Tai opened a door nearby, revealing a toilet. Lin nodded and dangled Meelo in front of her, and pointed at the small alcove. "In and out, Meelo. No funny stuff."

Meelo attempted a clumsy salute as a puff of air came from him, grinning in satisfaction as Lin set him down on the floor. He made a beeline for the toilet, almost turning into a blur as the door closed.

Tai leaned against a wall, and she sat on a stool. As Tai shifted, the heavy material of his coat made a audible noise, drawing Lin's attention, leading her to notice all of the rips and scratches visible on the boy's clothing. "You look like you've been in a few fights." she commented.

The boy looked at her, then at his long coat. "Yeah, _quite_ a few."

She folded her arms. "Ever not get into trouble?"

He smirked. "You met me in a _interrogation room_."

She sighed. "Don't tell me you're still hunting him.", her suspicions were confirmed when Tai's hands curled sligtly.

"So what?" he quietly said.

Lin scowled. "It's going to get you hurt, boy." she fixed him with a stern look, which he responded to by looking away.

Tai stared at the wall nearby. "He's done things to me you have no _idea_ about." he growled.

She rolled her eyes, "I know exactly what he's done to you. I've heard it a _dozen_ times, from people exactly the _same_ as you, all of it caused by the _exact_ kind of person Amon is-", she was about to continue when the toilet flushed, and they both whipped their heads towards the opening door. Meelo ambled out, a look of utter relief on him.

He stared at the both of them, then looked up at Tai. "She's got a point.", he walked past the two of them towards the bath tub, stepping out of his pyjamas and climbing in. He sat there, looking expectantly at Lin. She got up and walked over to the taps, twisting them and allowing streams of hot and cold water to fill the tub.

Tai excused himself, leaving rather quickly.

* * *

Bolin stumbled over a loose stone on the stairs, nearly losing the piece of perfectly toasted bread he had dangling from his mouth, his hand flailed around while clutching another piece as well, and he would be devastated if they both dropped.

While most people would think of bread as a staple of everything, Bolin and his brother saw it differently. Old habits die hard.

He held onto the golden colored square with all the strength he could muster as he tipped forward for a heart wrenching moment, more fearful for his bread rather than for himself.

Managing to right himself, he continued across the empty grounds, heading towards the ramp that led to the pier. As he went down the breeze got stronger, and began to ruffle his hair, annoying him and forcing him to dedicate a hand to keeping his high maintenance 'do' under control.

The wooden pier stretched out before him, running over the top of a small beach, surrounded by rocky cliffs and faces. He saw a lone figure standing at it's end, looking at the city that sat only a few miles away. He hesitated a moment, still so unsure if he really wanted to make up with him so soon. Immediately that thought disappeared, and he strode confidently towards the one fixture in his life.

"We missed you at breakfast." His brother didn't respond, only looking at the waters in front of them. Bolin fell silent, and not even the wind could conceal how loudly he was chewing at the moment.

After a few silence filled moments his brother whipped around, annoyance evident. "What are you-" he stopped, looking at the golden square in Bolin's extended palm. For his part Bolin just kept working on the bread, enjoying it immensely. Mako snorted and turned away from him. "That's not going to work."

Bolin held it closer to him, giving the delightful smell leeway to Mako's nostrils. Bolin walked forwards, standing by him. "Sorry about those things I said- I didn't-"

He stopped when Mako stole the piece of toast from his offered hand, looking at it to keep himself distracted. "No. You did. And you're right.", Bolin wisely chose not to speak up. "I've been stupid Bo'. I've messed up a lot haven't I?"

"It's okay Mako. You can't help it that I got the brains." he teased.

Despite what Mako must have been feeling he laughed, smiling at him. "Right," then he sighed, looking back to the water. "It's such a mess..."

"Bro, you were right as well. I think I _was_ trying to..." he reddened and looked away. "_You know_."

Mako clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it."

Bolin looked away sheepishly. "Yeah..."

His brother thought of something and sighed again. "What do you think I should do?" he asked Bolin.

"Uhhh not sure I can be much help...alright, I guess all you can do is talk to her. Best I can come up with." he laughed nervously.

And Mako chuckled. "Words of wisdom, Bo.", he looked down at the waters for a moment, then found himself staring at the serene city waterfront instead. "I think I will.", he turned and smirked before grabbing Bolin in a head-hold, dragging him back down the pier towards the ramp.

Bolin sputtered while laughing. "Dude!"

Mako rolled his eyes as he dragged him up the ramp, going slower than usual while Bolin tried to free himself from his prison. He struggled and struggled, which only served to get his arm trapped as well. He slackened for a moment, before launching a renewed attempt at freedom.

He failed, and Mako laughed as he let him go once they reached the top of the ramp. Some of the cheer in his golden eyes was lost when he saw a long-haired figure disappear into the living quarters nearby. He straightened and went to march down there, before Bolin clapped him on the back. "It'll be fine, Mako." Thinking how weird it was to hear himself saying that.

His brother nodded and left for the living quarters, leaving Bolin standing alone for a moment, before hearing the exertions of someone training. His curiosity piqued he followed them to their source, climbing up the ramp to the training grounds to do so.

He spotted a familiar brown skinned girl flowing from technique to technique; water streamed from her pouch as she gathered it into a thick ribbon in front of, sweeping it in several graceful arcs before letting it stream back in; her hands flared, and she danced and spun as she unleashed kicks and punches at a invisible foe that surrounded her, the flames she loosed were a bright orange, with their sources even tinging blue at some stages.

They died away to shadows of their former selves; and she grounded herself for a moment, exhaling a deep breath before chunks of earth rose around her, each one higher than the last, she hopped on them in sequence, and grunted with exertion as she managed a front flip of the highest, tucking her knees in to absorb the impact. As she hit the ground she rolled forwards, and extended her leg out, sweeping it in arc in front of her.

A massive portion of earth rose up in a expanding fissure, before settling down as a dust cloud was thrown up.

Bolin was entranced. And reminded of why he loved everything about her. He reddened as he found himself drifting into her more physical qualities, and he quickly clamped them down as he sat down on one of the steps.

She was still for a moment, wiping perspiration from her brow as she turned and saw him. She straightened and walked towards him, grabbing a water bottle that sat on the bottom-most steps, she sat down next to him, breathing heavily.

"As ever, you have blown my mind." he smoothly began. Korra nodded, a out-of-breath smile on her as she tipped a stream of water down her throat, after a few seconds she stopped and glanced at him, now clutching a half full bottle.

She wiped a few drops from around her mouth, licking at her fingertips, causing Bolin to look away for a moment. "Just a bit of training, been doing it all my life."

Bolin nodded. "I think _some_ natural skill comes into it Korra."

She smiled at his sweetness, although she still thought it was all the training. "I don't really know, haven't found any master benders to compare myself to, well, apart from Tenzin," she looked away and sighed, "And he can bend something that I _can't_."

He surprised her as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Come on Korra, just do what you normally do! Work and work until it just comes to you!" he grinned at her.

As ever, she was stunned by his belief in her. "Yeah? You really think so?"

"Sure I do! You're incredible!" he said. Inwardly, he wondered if he was laying it on a bit too much. She smiled again, this time a lot more easily, and he knew his answer.

"Thanks again Bolin, you can really cheer a girl up.", her smile was earnest as she nestled into his hand a little.

"I'm at your service anytime."

They both chuckled, then fell silent, letting the lemurs and birds take over their conversation. After a bit Korra sighed again. "Doesn't mean I'm great at everything else."

Bolin's face fell. "Korra?"

She stared at the ground, slowly kneading the dirt on the steps with the tip of her boot. "I'm not so good with people, if you've _noticed_."

The way she stressed that last part made Bolin instantly know what she was referring to. "I don't think any of it's your fault-"

"Wrong. It is." She glanced at him. "Come on Bolin, stop lying to yourself. You know what I did was wrong."

He shifted uncomfortably under her look. And in a small voice he answered her. "I...don't want to...I don't think I honestly _can_. Although...it did hurt for a bit after I saw you two- you know."

It was her turn to look away and shift uncomfortably. "I'm sorry.", suddenly she laughed and grabbed his hand. "Still. Friends right?"

Not wanting to hesitate, he answered immediately, event though all he wanted to be was a lot more. "Yeah. Friends."

She smiled at him and looked away, watching the snow begin to fall. He quietly sighed and did the same.

* * *

The tree swayed a little underneath him, causing the white orbs around him to wobble a little from their hanging points. The cover of the tree's thick leaves provided a surprisingly effective cover against the wind and falling snow outside, and the branch he was laying on was pretty well ventilated as well.

Also it helped that he had manipulated the air around him to be fairly comfortable, and he simply regulated his body temperature to keep at a comfortable temperature.

It helped him calm down and forget his troubles for a while.

He stared up at the darker leaves that grew closer to the trunk, tracing the outlines of the veins in their structure. It was a good time waster.

Still. She was right.

Keeping up this hunt was going to hurt him. Badly. And things got even more confusing when his brother and newfound friends were thrown into account as well.

He made a noise of annoyance, accidentally immolating a unfortunate leaf nearby. He noticed the cinders fall from the corner of his eye, and he quickly put a lid on his emotions.

Yeah. Things were getting complicated. He supposed it was always going to end up like that, especially concerning someone like Amon. That got him thinking about his brother.

He was alive. He'd seen him twice now, and it had only just hit him in the full impact of all that it meant. He was alive. And he was currently with the man who butchered their family. His eyes narrowed as he watched a leaf quietly snap off from it's twig, and fall past him in a twisting descent to the ground below. He thought about snatching it out of the air for a moment.

He had to get a lid on this. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to picture his calmest place. His thoughts swirled and flowed, and he found himself flitting through images of everyone he'd met so far in his time here.

Lin. The iron lady. He used to think she was a annoyance, but now she was honestly more of a...caretaker. He _refused_ to add motherly to that.

Tenzin. The stoic and calm man that had taken him under his wing, had given him a place to stay, a steady ear to speak to. He knew with everything he had that he could depend on him.

The air bender kids. Though Meelo and Ikki always found ways to get under his skin, he realized that was most likely their own special brand of accepting him as their friend. Jinora was more reserved, although he was certain she thought the same thing.

His thoughts changed to that of a short haired fire nation girl, and a wolf helm wearing water tribesman. They stuck with him ever since he came here, and even better, they were both great people.

Tai sighed in content as he shifted to re-balance himself on the tree branch. Hesitation creeped inside of him for a moment, before he closed his eyes again, and slowed his breathing. He collected his stray thoughts, piling them into a corner so he could focus properly on meditation.

He was loathe to try it, still fearful of his experience with it a few months ago. He measured his breathing, making it slow and steady, enough to put a soothing calm over him.

His eyes closed once more, and immediately he was back in that calmest place. He was standing on the cliffs near the training ground, looking out at the calm waters below. Their surface sparkled as the light from the early morning sun hit and bounced off of them, suffusing the rocky faces below him with a small glow.

The air the wind carried towards him was gentle, and held a salty and fresh scent to it. Something told him to turn around, and he saw Korra and Tenzin standing there, looking happy.

That definitely told him he was currently enraptured in his head. He chuckled to himself, meditation might just work out for him this time.

But the view changed, and the land dropped away and swirled into different forms. It was too much for him to look at, so he squeezed his eyes shut as a pervasive white glow grew everywhere around him.

A range of different, but welcome, smells soon drifted up his nose, and he slowly opened on eye as he recognized the heady and sweet smell of pyju fruits approaching maturation. His view was met with the groaning stem of one of the orchards, holding a bunch of four of the orange colored orbs. He looked to his left, seeing a narrow path lined with the same orchards, and he realised he was in a orchard field.

He heard four different voices nearby, and he walked towards the source, ducking under the heavily laden bushes and growths as he did so. Once he had crossed at least ten rows or so, the edges of a golden colored field were visible underneath the row in front of him. He looked to his left and right before walking across the dirt track that separated the two areas.

Tai winced as he felt a crunch underneath his foot. He lifted it up, revealing a bunch of tattered billowy petals clinging lifelessly to the sole of his boot. It was only now that he could pick out the same willowy flowers that dotted this strip of growth between the field and the orchard.

A feeling of deja vu entered him, and filled him with the curiosity to see who the people working in the fields were. This time he stepped over the flowers carefully, and squinted to get a better look at the figures off in the distance.

Golden colored stalks parted for his feet easily as he stepped into the golden field, drawing closer and closer to those four people. Two of them stood at a significantly lower height than the others, with only one of them even beginning to reach shoulder height.

One of the taller ones was bent over, using a hoe to cut down a swathe of the stalks, which the second figure than grabbed and bundled them into a large basket she was carrying in her arms.

Tai shook his head. That's right, that one was a woman, the one cutting was a man, and the two children nearby were both boys.

It's at that moment when everything clicked into place. "_Mom_, _Dad_." he breathed. He stepped towards the four of them, who curiously didn't even react to the dark clothed boy walking towards them.

The woman was tall and reedy, and the delicate features on her granted her a graceful and elegant look. Her grey eyes shone as light from the setting sun went into them, and they were happy as she laughed at a joke the man just told.

As the man looked up, his glasses reflected the sun's dying rays, and occasionally he scratched at the stubble on his jawline with a hand marked with a scar running down the palm towards the wrist. Behind the glasses, his golden eyes still managed to stand out brilliantly, they twinkled as he laughed at his own wit, absently running a hand through messy black hair.

One of the children suddenly tugged at his leg, making him stumble a little as the child giggled. Several patches were visible all over his loose fitting grey t-shirt, and the cuffs of his pants were ripped and mangled, as though the child spared no expense at trying to destroy them with any means possible. He held a huge grin on his face, and his grey eyes twinkled in a similar fashion to the man's. His hair was almost at a bush-like level, barely contained by the dark grey beret perched on his head.

Next to him, the taller boy snorted with laughter, and had eyes similar to that of his brother and mother, although strangely enough, his hair was a light grey in color, in stark contrast to his brother's jet black hair.

Tai found himself smiling giddily, and stopped where he was, lost in memories gone years by. The sound of half deflated tires flopping noisily on a uneven dirt track made him whirl around.

A incredibly battered satotruck drew up behind him, listing to a halt. The tray fixed to the rusty cab's back was empty, and the sole occupant looked to be in a seriously injured state.

The family stopped laughing and headed towards the truck, running together to help the stranger. They all ran past Tai, not even acknowledging that he was physically there. They watched as the driver side door slowly opened, and a hooded figure tipped forwards onto the ground with a sigh. The father grimaced as he carefully rolled him over, so that the strange man was facing the sky.

He wore a strange white mask.

* * *

_Police Headquarters._

The reception lobby was loud, and completely packed with all kinds of people. Ever present police officers milled among these in small groups, and had taken over a great deal of the waiting chairs, now dedicating them to improvised meeting places and equipment benches. Still, there were chairs and seats that still performed their intended function, occasionally emptying and filling as someone was led away to a interview room and a new arrival took their place.

Of the people who sat in these chairs, it was the older ones who waited the most patiently, and when a young officer or clerk called out their name, they would stand up and follow them to a secluded room, sad expressions on their faces.

Sensha could sympathize with them. She knew all too well how hard it was to find someone in Republic City.

She shook the thoughts away as the voice on the line grew curious. "Sweetie? Sensha?"

Sensha quickly brought the reciever back to her mouth and ear. "Uh. Sorry grandma, just got a little distracted."

Her grandma chuckled in a fashion only grandma's could. One the managed to both mock and comfort someone. "See anything you _like_?" she teased.

The short-haired girl flushed a little. "Grandma stop it! And no, if you wanted an answer."

The voice on the other end calmed down. "Well alright then. How's Boto? Are _you_ alright?"

She rolled her eyes in exasperation. "He's fine Grandma, and yes I'm alright."

The little sigh on the end made her smile. "Just looking out for you Sensha."

"Thanks Grandma," she leant in a little closer to the wall. "Umm. Do you know when mom will be back from deployment?"

Her Grandma sighed again. "Nothing yet," Sensha shook her head, disappointed. But her Grandma wasn't finished. "I do know her ship is near Republic City though."

"Still..." Sensha said worriedly.

The voice spoke to her in a soft and consoling tone. "Honey, she'll be back soon. Just have a little faith."

Sensha was about to speak up when a little hammer on the side of the wall-mounted phone banged against a little bell, making a chime that set her teeth on edge. "Damn...sorry Grandma, time's nearly up."

"Alright sweetie. Stay safe." the voice said in a soft way.

Sensha nodded. "I will. Love you."she hung the reciever back on it's hook, and turned away, noticing a flash of pale blue armor heading towards her, the person wearing it had just split off from a large group of similarly clothed officers, who were filing into the freight elevator, with commander Makei at their head.

"Hey." she said as he stood next to her, watching the officers depart. "What's the commander doing?"

He looked at her. "They got a tip off about some equalist base out of the city, they're headed there to disarm and disable it."

She nodded. "Uh...heard anything about Korra?"

He smiled. "She's safe-"

"That's great!" she said, cutting him off, "Sorry." she apologised when she noticed.

"-And Tai is as well." he finished.

She sighed with relief, surprising herself a little. "Good. He's pretty thick-headed."

"It turns out that Naga found her." Boto said right out of the blue.

She arched an eyebrow. "Her polar-bear dog?"

He nodded. "Yep. She's a great tracker." he said, remembering a few of the times he spent playing with her when she was only the size of a arctic-wolf.

Sensha grinned as she looked at him. "Well this doesn't happen often. The enigmatic Boto said something about his childhood!" she teased.

Boto chuckled, and Sensha noticed the wistful look that flashed across his eyes for a millisecond. "Yeah..." he rolled his eyes. "It's kind of boring though, being raised in a place full of ice and snow."

She got the message and just nodded.

They heard a commotion at the reception desk, and they both turned to see what was going on.

A young man, was standing in front of it, and the group of officers surrounding him gave him a wide berth, and they knew why when they saw the belt of ticking explosives around his chest.

Emblazoned on each one of the brown sticks was a bright red circle.

Judging from the reactions of the crowd nearby, he had only just revealed himself, a few of them tried to push through the police officers to see what was going on, and were quietly pushed back by some of the burlier officers. Boto and Sensha began to make their way through the crowd, when a pair of wires from several of the officers wrapped around each of his limbs, with a pair of them wounding around the terrified young man's chest. They quickly towed him away, as Saikhan entered the lobby, and gestured for the two of them.

They walked towards him immediately, Boto snapped off a salute. "Sir?"

Saikhan repaid the gesture. "We've got a situation brewing down at City Hall. Councilman Shizu's car was found abandoned nearby, with equalist weapons found all over the scene. I need you two to get down there and make sure the councilman is safe and sound. Understood?"

The two of them nodded. "We'll head there now sir."

"Good. I have a feeling something big's about to come." he said as he glanced at the spot where the young man had been apprehended. He turned on his heel, heading towards the hallway that held the freight elevator.

"Let's go."

Sensha nodded.

As they left, Saikhan took the elevator up to the second level, walking down a grey, utilitarian hallway that ended in a rectangular room, lined with consoles and their operators. A few saluted when he arrived, although a majority where too busy talking into their headsets or busy tapping out messages, he picked up a mic on the large central table.

"This is the Chief. All available personnel, perform a sweep of the building, terrorist elements may have planted suspicious packages throughout the building. Be careful. That's all.", as he clicked off the mic he noticed the concerned looks everyone shared in the room. "Back to your stations! We need to stay on top of this people!"

* * *

_Ling-Yao street, near City Hall._

Behind his wolf helm, Boto scanned the almost deserted roads, while a feeling of unease grew larger and larger. They hadn't seen anyone at all on their way here.

He guided the motorcycle around another bend, the wheels gracefully absorbing the shock and impact as he mounted the curb for a short while. He was thankful he had removed the side car after they arrived back at the station yesterday morning.

The wheels screeched slightly as they met an imperfection in the road, the line of buildings to their right dropped away to the view of a massive gardened and bricked square, with piles of snow dumped across whole swathes of it.

Just to be sure, he took a look behind him at the street they just passed, and the smiling visage of a black haired Earth King Yao looked back at him, wrought entirely using gilded silver, a metal that was incredibly difficult for earth benders to mold thanks to the low impurities. Commander Makei surmised that once the equalist supply of platinum was cut off, they would resort to using silver instead. It was only now that everyone was beginning to take them seriously as a threat now.

He slowed the bike, causing it to coast forwards a little on it's shrinking momentum before coming to a halt. In front of them a satomobile, colored earthen tones and colors, sat abandoned, it's doors flung open and windows smashed.

Sensha took of her helmet, laying it on a hook on the back of the bike as she dismounted first. He followed, keeping his helm on as together they cautiously advanced towards the councilman's custom-made car. The gaudy gold-plated pipes running along it's sides and into the same-colored grill irritated him a little.

As they made their way to the front of a car, they noticed the unique profile of a mecha tank sailing through the air high above them. They both gaped as it crashed down onto a roof nearby, causing snow to fall off of it in droves.

Gusts and blows of wind could be seen and heard, and they ran across the square, aiming to assist the one person who could control that element with such precision.

The massive doors were already opened, and they noticed that the hinges on them were broken and torn apart. They exchanged worried glances as they passed them by, and grew further worried when they were met with a completely wrecked hall.

Scorch marks were present everywhere, some of the long seats had been turned into splinters, which were strewn across the floor in a huge mess. They heard the sounds of fighting from one of the council offices on the second level, and took one of the corner staircases up.

They ran the length of the balcony to a pair of brown doors that had been smashed off of their hinges, through which the sounds of floor being ripped up and the groans and shouts of fighting were heard with much more detail.

A pair of equalists spotted them, Sensha ducked around one of them, slamming his head into the wall nearby, the man sighed and fell to the floor. His partner lashed a foot at her back, and Boto intercepted it, grabbing her leg with one hand and punching her in the face with the other. She cried out and slumped as well, already unconscious.

They ran forwards, and three more equalists flew past them, pushed back by the strange stone cubes that made up one wall of the office. The earth kingdom councilman stood on top of one of them, his feet wide apart and his arms rigidly moving up, down and forwards. The segmented parts of the wall jutted in and out at random intervals, giving the five remaining equalists a tough time trying to get to him.

Sensha hanged back as Boto tackled one of them from behind, taking out another one with a well timed ball of flame to the chest. The three remainders tossed out as many grenades as they could, and Boto struggled to gather any moisture from the air, only having enough to freeze two of them.

The councilman shouted a warning, and Sensha quickly dived out of the room. While he stomped a foot down, causing a pillar of earth to send Boto flying upwards, Boto alighted on one of the jutting cubes, as the gas grenades unleashed their clouds, quickly filling the bottom of the room in a green haze that would bring pain and tears to the eyes and ears.

She heard the sound of feet running towards her, and she whipped around, seeing Tenzin quickly windmill his arms, making the gas thin out and disappear completely.

Tenzin gave her a nod before walking into the room, as the earth kingdom councilman brought himself and Boto back down to the floor. Sensha walked into the room after him.

"Shizu, how many were there?" Tenzin asked.

Councilman Shizu was breathing heavily, evident for a man of his age. "Nine or so, luckily these two were able to distract them for me.", he sighed. "I think they have the others though."

Tenzin nodded. "We'll have to find them later on, I don't suppose your car is working?"

"Completely trashed." Shizu replied.

"Very well. We'll take Oogi.", he glanced at Boto and Sensha. "Good afternoon you two."

* * *

潮


	22. The Deception, and The Retreat

潮

* * *

_Beifong Range, Five Kilometres From Wushan Remnants._

The airship rocked slightly, as a headwind blowing from the top of the mountains nearby slowed their passage considerably, the quarter of propellers were having a tough time of it as they worked to keep the massive aircraft in motion. The heavier construction of this variant required a pair of metalbenders to continuously work to keep the metal across it light and flexible, in order for it to continue sustained flight with such a heavy body.

This was offset the numerous uses it had. Unlike the one-cylinder and one-gondola design philosophy of the smaller patrol ships, this airship sported a much larger and flatter skeletal shape, giving it more balance and control when facing turbulent winds.

It was the brainchild of the police force's resident mad genius, Head Researcher Keijo. While the original design was two gondolas welded together into one structure, and a pair of patrol cylinders stuck next to each other, it served admirably for it's intended purpose.

Transporting and deploying large amounts of force in a short timeframe. Thus the original was refined, and now their line serves the police force; and other peacekeeping services, in areas where a patrol ship won't be enough.

Makei stood next to the driver of the massive air-borne beast, observing the snow-capped peaks of the Twins two kilometres off their port side. The sheer white cliffs and crags near the top of their peaks began to slope gently, before giving way to seas of dark green, although once again the white was seen again as the forests ended, and the snow as able to blanket the areas tree's couldn't cover.

The driver glanced at him through a pair of thick lensed and heavily scratched goggles. "Sir. Receiving a wave from our spotters. Patching it through now." One of his hands lifted off of the driving wheel, flicking a number of switches and turning a few dials in quick succession, which was impressive given the yellowy-brown colored and thickened gloves looked incredibly awkward.

Static could be heard on the loudspeakers mounted in the corners of the spacious gondola for a moment, before the noise gave way for a calm and collected voice. "Five kilometres in front of us, the remains of Wushan fortress are in sight.", the speakers clicked off, and some of the officers seated in the rows of benches in the center of the gondola stood up, getting their launchers and spools ready.

Nisha and Hei walked towards the commander, peering at the dark twists of concrete that dominated the snow covered land below them.

Makei glanced at the two of them. "Everything ready?"

Nisha nodded first, beating Hei. "Yes sir. Equipment's all counted for, everyone's prepared, we're ready."

He nodded, looking down at the smashed apart walls and turrets that made up Wushan's first outer wall. "It's gonna be a hell of a fight down there."

Hei answered him this time. "Sir. Do we know how many are down there?"

The commander turned to him. "Not as much as I'd like to. By Intel's estimates? About fifty or so plus their vehicles.", he looked at the five squads that made up the thirty man force, a most of them were either double checking their equipment or preparing themselves mentally for what was about to begin very soon. A few were visibly pale, and their comrades were talking to them quietly, trying to cheer them up or encourage them.

"I hope it's enough." Makei sighed.

Everything felt lighter for a second as the massive ship began its descent, the ground loomed larger and larger as their altitude began to drop significantly. Everyone who was standing made their way to a handhold mounted nearby, or if they weren't near one, used their wire to wrap around a hook on the ceiling, giving them a solid footing.

Makei nodded to his two closest subordinates, who both left to rejoin the squads, holding onto a pair of hooks, next to each other.

Everyone looked at the commander, who walked unassisted across the unsteady floor, to a spot in front of a pair of hatch doors set into the floor. They were huge, and even ran under the long benches.

An alarm wailed, and a pair of deckhands quickly pushed the benches out of the way as the hatch doors swung open, allowing a howling wind to rush around the interior of the gondola and try to drag things out into the sky below them. Luckily everything was bolted down, and the long metal benches were fixed onto swivel arms built into the walls.

The commander nodded, and everyone folded a loose piece of thick black cloth over their mouths and noses, which would give them some respite against the biting winds and cold they would face down there.

The airship stopped its descent, and levelled out above a large and featureless snowy field, overshadowed by a broken line of stone and concrete.

The driver spoke into the intercom. "Tethering up. Hold a bit."

The gondola wobbled slightly, as four harpoon guns, each on mounted on it's own platform that jutted from the gondola's corners, fired at once. Down below, clumps of snow were thrown up as hardened rods drove into the hard soil underneath, thick and strong wires connecting them to the spool mounts on the ship went taut, and the airship rocked slightly as each one tightened, and kept it level and unmoving.

In groups of five, metal benders fired their wires into the ground underneath the open hatch, and the spools on their backs made a whizzing noise as they were pulled down towards the ground.

They quickly spread themselves out amongst the snow, making sure to keep the other squads within their sight. The commander was last out, dropping amongst them a few seconds later.

"Everyone, snow patterns." he said, raising his voice just enough for everyone to hear. All around him the officers were still for a moment, not making any sound at all.

The smooth black metal plates on everyone's chest and shoulders melted away, replaced with a dull sheen of grayish, white color. Makei nodded and gestured forwards towards the broken walls. "Take it slow, don't want any surprises."

No one spoke up, instead using hand gestures to signal their understanding. They moved cautiously, their metal boots sinking down and finding the soil beneath the snow as the broken wall loomed larger and larger in their vision. Makei made another gesture, pointing forwards as he broke into a jog, keeping his profile low by bending his back slightly, for any other man of his age it would have hurt like no tomorrow, but Makei kept fit and active pretty much every day.

He pressed his back to a piece of crumbling masonry, and slowly moved towards it's edge. The other officers joined him, with at least half of them taking up cover behind the other broken segments of wall.

"Hei, Tenma, Jiro. Scale the walls, report any movement you see. Rest of you keep low and spread out." he ordered. Hei, Tenma and Jiro stood up, pointing their arms upwards. Wires shot up and catched the old stone above, they all pulled to test if the wire's grip would hold, than reeled themselves up, and Makei watched as they disappeared onto the tops of the wall segments.

Everyone waited in tense anticipation, each harboring thoughts of facing down a horde of metal bending immune mecha tanks, or encountering some new technology the equalists had developed. Some of the men balked slightly, but steeled themselves to do anything necessary to get the job done. Others relished the thought of making a pile of scrap metal.

Hei poked his head over the edge of the wall, looking down at them. "No movement from what I can spot, but there are lights coming from a few hangars in the center of the fortress."

"Good work Hei.", Makei noticed Tenma and Jiro climbed back down the wall, and jogged towards him. "Same here commander, looks like we can sneak straight up to the inner walls."

He nodded. "Alright."

Once Hei dropped back down next to him, he gestured across the snowy fields that separated them from the iconic inner wall of old Wushan Fortress. everyone nodded, eager to keep moving to stay warm as the wind started to blow a bit more fiercely.

They ran across the field at a crouch, limiting their mobility but reducing their chances to be seen by any patrolling men the equalists would undoubtedly have when in control of such a large base.

The inner wall of Wushan ran in a slight curve away from the approaching group, forming a roughly oval ring of mortar and cement around the central area of the equalist base. This wall was in much better condition than the outer wall, and was still relatively intact, apart from a few gaps they saw as they came to the base of the soaring fortification.

Makei made a gesture, pointing to the top of the wall. Wires were fired upwards, and the hooks on the ends of them caught on the seams in the brickwork of the wall. Everyone engaged their spools at the same time, and they were winched to the top of the fortification. They immediately dropped down, so any equalist patrolman couldn't see them.

Nisha fished out a pair of collapsible binoculars from a compartment on her leg armor, peering through them at the wide open space in front of the officers. The buildings were placed fairly traditionally, with the old barracks sitting just under the shadow of the wall they laid on top of, it was comprised of two buildings, one for the women, and the other for the men. The officer's quarters sat opposite the two buildings, housed in a nondescript, rectangular block of cement.

But it was the two massive hangars facing each other that had gripped her attention. They, unlike the barracks and officer's quarters, were only recently built, she checked this by focusing her sight until everyone had a dull gray tone and sheen to it, she looked at the two hangars, noting the relative lack of impurities in their makeup.

She blinked twice, letting her vision return to normal. That confirmed it, they were recent constructions, most likely built by the equalists to house their weapons and technology. She signaled for the commander to come over.

"What do you have, lieutenant?" he said as he knelt down next to her.

She pointed at the two massive hangars. "Those were recently constructed. I'm betting that's where they house most of their precious toys." she glanced at Makei, who rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Agreed. Good work."

Makei raised his voice. "I'm splitting us into two squads," immediately fifteen men and women stood up, including Hei. "Scope out the northern hangar, take out any guards and disable any of their machines you find," he looked at the remaining fourteen. "We'll take the southern hangar, same plan understood?"

Everyone nodded their assent, having no need to say it. Hei's squad was the first to depart, being that they were the fastest runners among the thirty officers. The young man disappeared over the lip of the wall, along with Tenma and Jiro. A few seconds later they were creeping along the outside wall of the men's barracks building, making their way to the central square.

The rest of the fifteen man squad made their way down shortly after, soon veering off in the direction of the hangar dominating the northern side of the base, following their scouts.

Makei's squad fired their wires down into the snow below, reeling themselves towards the ground at a fast speed. Five seconds later, they had all landed successfully, and the commander led them around the opposite side of the barracks, the one that faced the southern hangar. Now that they were on the ground again, everything seemed larger and more foreboding, and the shadow of the inner wall loomed over them, almost appearing as large as the walls of Ba Sing Se, being so close.

The fifteen man squad left the barracks behind, running across the snow covered grounds that separated them from the hangars. Unsurprisingly the massive doors on the front were shut tight, denying them easy access to the building's innards. Instead, they ran down the side of it, keeping as close as possible to it's walls. Eventually they found a side door, Makei threw his hands wide, forcing the metal in the door to tear and rend, causing it to fall off it's heavy hinges, giving them access to a dimly lit corridor with another door waiting at the other end.

The radio on his belt buzzed and crackled as it received a transmission. "Hei here, doors are wide open, and the interiors deserted. Any orders commander?"

"Take it slow, spirits know what surprises they may have left behind.", in his head, Makei was trying to figure out where those equalists weapons could have gone, and how quick it was that they were moved. That equalist squad would have definitely reported the upcoming raid to Amon. If that was true, than Makei definitely felt that the feeling of dread growing within him was well justified.

"On it commander." the radio's green light winked off, and Makei glanced at everyone gathered behind him. "We enter in groups of five, cover all corners, we need to be careful with this.", they all nodded, all too familiar with the horror stories of patrols that got jumped by chi blockers and their mecha tanks. Nisha moved down the line a little, taking her place at the head of their number.

She nodded, and Makei entered the corridor cautiously, keeping an eye out for anything in the dim murky depths. Particularly green lenses and the sound of bolo's being readied. One by one four of his men followed after him, keeping their arms up in case they needed to deploy their wires quickly. Anti-climatically, nothing surprised or attacked them, and the hallway continued to be as empty as it was when they arrived.

Makei drew up to the heavily reinforced door that allowed access to the gargantuan hangar interior, he placed a palm on it's rusting and cold surface, trying to get a feel of what metals were used in it's construction.

He grimaced when he sensed sheets of steel plating inside the door, probably put there to reinforce it against metal benders and fire benders. He placed another palm on it's surface, and took a deep breath, before digging large dents in with his fingers, he used these dents as handholds, and slowly, peeled the door open. Through his newly created hole he caught a glimpse of a surprisingly clean stone floor, although he narrowed his eyes when he saw the empty alcoves lining the opposite side of the hangar.

He stepped through, his boots echoing he stood still for a second, listening for any sounds of movement within the gargantuan room. His officers followed him, taking up positions on his sides. He walked forwards into the open space, looking left and right for any of the flitty movement the chi blockers favored. Nothing like that presented itself, in fact nothing at all did even when the rest of his officers flowed through the hole into the space after him.

A man with a handle bar moustache went over to him. "Sir...I've sent men into the higher levels to check for any occupants." Washi said.

Makei nodded as he found himself approaching the center of the huge room. He looking at the large and incredibly empty alcoves, wondering what possible use they'd be.

He looked over at a small fenced off section nestled in the corner, his officers easily ripped through the fencing, gaining access to the desks and lockers within. Flinging them open, they found boxes and boxes of grenades, racks holding their iconic zap gloves, and sacks filled to the brim with both ordinary and electrified bola's. They didn't bother dragging them out, but instead they placed a small metal disc on each bag, locker and container, a simple way for them to track the weapons if they were moved before officers could come to collect and dispose of them.

The absence of noise apart from their own movements unsettled them, leaving a foreboding feeling to start festering. It would have been an comfort if equalists and mecha tanks had burst out of hiding to fight them, rather than just moving around unchallenged around a empty base.

Soon all of his officers began to gather near him, giving him reports of their discoveries in the hangar.

"Nothing at all?" he asked incredulously.

Nisha shrugged. "Nothing. No men, no equipment apart from those lockers, no mecha tanks or airships. Sir the place has been abandoned."

Washi stepped forward, a rolled up sheet of telegraph paper in hand. "Even worse, found this," Nisha glanced at him worriedly as he unrolled it to reveal what was written. "To all elements. Begin duties immediately. Wipe the city clean. Hiroshi Sato." his face grew dark as he stared at the words on the little piece of paper.

"Shit! We've been played!" Makei shouted, he grabbed his radio, setting it to Hei's frequency. "Corporal, get everyone together, we've been set up!"

Hei's voice came back through, and the sound of heavy breathing and boots running could be heard. "Heading to you now sir! This ones completely empty, everything's gone!", the radio's green light winked off.

"Double-time! Back to the ship!" he ordered, turning to run towards the open corridor. His officers followed behind him, and the group was about toe approach the hole in the door when the sound of numerous beeps reverberated off the metal walls. Makei's eyes widened for a instant as he noticed several glowing lights on the support columns.

"Let's move!" he roared.

* * *

_Skies __over the City._

Tenzin bent to pat the side of Oogi's face as the bison wrinkled his nose as the acrid smelling smoke entered nostrils. The ill-tempered bison grumbled in distaste. "We'll be out of this soon." he said, quietly reassuring his long-time companion.

He narrowed his eyes as he noticed that the numbers of red and black airships floating above the city had doubled in the last few minutes. He glanced behind him at where Sensha and Boto sat. "Are you two alright?"

Boto answered first. "Yes. How long 'till we reach the station?", as he said this he glanced at Sensha, who was staring down a particular neighborhood that sat near the edge of the city, concern etched all over her.

"It's just on the other side of this block of buildings." he answered. He turned back to watching the skies in front of them, steering Oogi upwards for a bit to avoid the heavier smoke levels below them. An hour later and Oogi wouldn't be able to breath, as the smoke would be only thing filling his lungs as he drew a breath.

Boto placed a hand on Sensha's shoulder, barely eliciting a reaction from her as she continued to stare down at the suffering city. "Sensha. She's fine."

"I hope so." the girl breathed, she glanced at him for a moment with wet eyes, before giving him the weakest smile possible. "She can't bend so she'll be safe right?"

"Your grandma is the toughest old tiger-seal I've ever known, she'll send any of them packing!" he smiled to cheer her up, and it worked a little bit, as the ghosts of a smile played on Sensha's lips. She nodded.

"Nearly there." Tenzin called to them.

Sensha wiped her eyes and gave Boto a thumbs up. He patted her shoulder before straightening to observe the iron colored building they were now descending towards. His view of it changed as Tenzin guided Oogi over the top of the roof, coaxing him to land on one of the loading platforms that stretched out from the building's main dome.

Tenzin swung his legs to the side, and hopped off of the bison's neck, Oogi grumbled as he wrinkled his nose again. Boto and Sensha leaped off together, and waited while Tenzin whispered a few calming words into one of the bison's ears. They had an effect, and Oogi yawned as he laid down to wait for them.

He nodded to the two of them, and together they entered the waiting freight elevator nearby. He pulled the lever, and the platform lurched a little as the thick cable it was suspended from was pulled downwards, large iron gears grinded together to slow the elevator's assent to a non-hazardous speed for people.

A light flicked on overhead as they neared the entrance to another level, but Tenzin didn't pull the lever up, skipping past three more entrances. No one spoke as the elevator neared the entrance to the fifth floor. Just as the elevator stopped again, and the light flicked on, a muffled explosion was heard, somewhere in the levels below them, silence followed for a second, and the far off screams and yells of men and women could be heard, with the shrill cries of children mixed among them.

Boto swore under his breath, while Sensha and Tenzin shared a look of worry. He slammed a fist into the wall. "This thing never goes fast enough!" he growled.

The elevator lurched a final time, and Tenzin reached to pull down the lever, as their view of the dark wall changed to a pair of thick doors with the number six painted in thick white paint.

The doors slid open to reveal a tangle of grey walls, Tenzin strode out, with Boto and Sensha in tow, he turned right, heading down a long corridor playing host to a constant flow of messengers and radio operators, some of them stopping to nod at Tenzin or Boto before heading off to wherever they needed to go.

The sound of a deep voice, sounding more and more ticked off with each step towards the room at the end of the corridor carried to them. Tenzin opened the door for the three of them, no one called any greetings to them, as most of the occupants were currently pre-occupied with their telegraph stations or map-plotting.

The loud speakers over everyone's heads carried several different snippets of radio conversations. Running feet and sounds of fighting could be heard in the background of a few, while a increasing number of others played host to the sounds of explosions and the squeals of tearing metal. A sound that the four people in the room not wearing headsets had the bad luck to hear.

Saikhan loomed over the central table, studying a map of the city that covered it's entrie surface. He turned and nodded as the three of them entered the room. He quickly waved off the salute Boto was preparing. "Stow it Lieutenant this isn't the best time," he looked at the two of them. "Is councillor Shizu safe?"

Boto nodded. "He's holed up in City Hall with the remaining pages and caretakers, preparing some kind of plan."

Saikhan raised an eyebrow. "I'll get a squad down there to assist." he looked at Tenzin. "Tenzin, am I glad to see you, I was afraid you'd been captured as well."

Tenzin brushed a mote of dust of his shoulder. "Not for want of trying. What's the status?"

Saikhan turned to look at the map of the city, shaking his head. "It's a mess out there. Amon has launched simultaneous attacks across the boroughs, our airships are being shot down like wasp-flys, and our forces are spread too thin to regain any semblance of control," he sighed explosively, pinching the bridge of his noise. "I shouldn't have sent the commander and his men on that mission...we need them back!"

"Saikhan, right now you're the only one who can take control of the situation, all we can do right now is do the best with what we have." Tenzin scratched his beard with the tune of a pensive thought, and turned towards one of the telegraph operators. A nondescript man with a shock of black hair. "I need to send a wire."

The man nodded and placed a hand on the tab. "To whom councilman?"

Tenzin straightened. "The United Forces. General Iroh, 1st Battlegroup."

The operator turned to the telegraph, dialing as fast as he can. "Working on it...hold please."

Saikhan glanced at Tenzin. "Hopefully they'll be enough to turn things in our favour."

"Councilman, your wire has been sent.", Tenzin nodded his thanks, and the operator turned back to his desk, working to keep track of the insane amount of wires coming in.

"Sir!", Tenzin and turned to see a mousy woman looking at them. "Incoming wave from Commander Makei."

"Clear the lines get it through!" Saikhan said a bit forcefully. The small-in-stature woman nodded, flicking a switch and turning a few dials.

The yells and status reports coming over the speakers dropped away, with the sound of someone clearing their throat, the whump whump of airship props could be heard as well. "Chief?"

He brought the mike to his lips. "Commander, are you heading back now?"

A sigh was heard. "Base was a dud, everyone and everything's cleared out of there. We were played."

"The equalists have started their attack! Every boroughs in danger and we're stretched thin! Are you and you men ready?" he asked.

Makei's voice was determined, and Saikhan knew the man would never back down from any of his duties. "Hundred percent chief, where do you need us?"

Saikhan smiled. "Tai-Shong, our men thei-"

He was interrupted by one of the female operators. "Chief! The phone lines just went dead!"

The room went quiet for a moment, and several muffled booms could be heard. Saikhan and Tenzin shared a glance. Mirroed by Sensha and Boto, an alarm began to wail for a few seconds, before a second, much _larger_ boom was heard.

Than the lights went out, and the alarm cut off with them.

Everyone shared glances with one another, shouts and yells broke out amongst them, Saikhan managed a low growl, silencing all of them. "Stay calm and we'll get out of this!", he opened a drawer, hefting a large grey box on top of the map table. He flipped the catch, and pushed the lid back, revealing a large amount of simple black torches. He grabbed one, throwing another to Tenzin. "Standard procedure, stay in pairs and grab a torch. Tenz-"

Someone gasped, and Tenzin pointed at the vents, which were beginning to release something else as well as air into the room. "Saikhan the vents!", he manipulated the air in the room, trying to shunt the billowing white gases back into the vents. Saikhan closed the vents up.

Unfortunately some of the gase had seeped through, and a few of the operators began to cough and cover their mouths.

Boto peered out into the hallway. "Damn, the gas is spreading from the other end of the corridor as well!"

Tenzin nodded. "We need to evacuate immediately. Everyone _stay_ close to me!", he stood by the door as the operators and clerks headed through, with him, Saikhan, Boto and Sensha heading up the back. He pushed his way to the front as the gas began to drift through the juncition leading to the elevator, cutting them off. Tenzin closed his eyes for a moment, and exhaled three times, immediately a rushing of wind and air grew around him, and he extended the rapidly spinning sphere around the entire group.

Inside the sphere, all speech was drowned out by the roaring wind, and it was all they could do to concentrate on keeping up with Tenzin's quick pace.

The metal supports along the other end of the hallway buckled and squealed as a explosion rushed down it towards the group. Tenzin gritted his teeth and raised his voice. "Keep calm and keep pace! We need to get to the elevator before _that_ does!", he didn't stop to acknowledge whether anyone had understood, and broke into a run, with the air shield slowing down a great deal, allowing a bit of the gas to creep in.

By his reasoning, that was preferable to being roasted alive.

They ducked into the connecting corridor, running towards the open doors of the elevator. Saikhan turned and threw his arms down towards the floor, commanding the metal and stone to rush upwards, he did the same to the roof as well, and the two growing masses met together, entwining into a roughly made barricade to stop the firewall from rushing in after them.

The doors sparked as they worked to close, and the elevator wobbled a little, quickly Saikhan placed a hand on the wall, and raising the other towards the ceiling. Soon enough, the wobbles ceased as he took control of the thick metal cable. The doors closed fully, just as they caught a glimpse of the gradual red glow spreading throughout the metal barricade. Inside the elevator everyone was sweltering as the heat from the firestorm carried through to them.

Boto shifted uneasily as the metal on his armor began to heat up a bit too quickly, suddenly the heat died away as Sensha absorbed all of it into her, her skin went bright pink for a few seconds before eventually going back down to it's usual paleness. She swayed unsteadily for a moment, leaning on the wall for balance, breathing heavily. Boto went to her, but she waved him off. "I'll be fine...just something that really takes it out of ya."

The young man smirked, folding his arms. "Actually I was just going to see how _sloppily_ _done _that was." he stuck out a thumb, and wavered between pointing it up or down.

Sensha chuckled, before coughing a bit. "_Funny_, next time I'll let you all roast how about that?" she noticed the scared looks she got from the clerks and operators, and the arched eyebrow from Tenzin, she didn't realise she had raised her voice. "Uh. Sorry." her cheeks tinged with embarrassment and she bowed her head, staring at the wall as much as humanly possible. She and her big mouth.

The light winked on as the elevator approached one of the levels, but Saikhan growled, and the elevator found itself dropping a bit faster than usual, the light winked on again as they went past another floor, but he kept them going, only stopping once the ground floor door was coming up.

As he released control the elevator lurched again, but righted itself as the cable took up the slack. Saikhan glanced at Tenzin. "Keep that shield up, the gas will be much thicker down here."

The air bender nodded, and exhaled a few deep breaths, and slammed his palms together as the doors opened, immediately ushering a thick roiling cloud of white gas. Tenzin stepped through, and everyone kept pace with him in order to not lose their way in the thickness. They passed the reception desk, and on occasion someone gasped or swore as they stumbled over a knocked out officer or clerk. As they made their ways to the front doors, they passed by numerous benches, with citizens and officers slumped against each other from the effects of the gas. Tenzin grimaced as he saw them, and averted his gaze, focusing only on getting everyone outside. He had enough to worry about at a time like this.

Tenzin jerked his head towards the door, and Boto moved forwards the fling them open, which only served in putting them in the fire instead of the frying pan. The group ran down the steps, and Tenzin finally let the air sphere drift away, and they were met with an advancing group of six mecha tanks. Some of the operators gasped, while a few groaned at their circumstances.

For the first time since meeting him, Boto and Sensha heard the stoic Tenzin swear. "Not these Mecha Tanks again!"

The machines raise their right arms, each one fixed with a strange disc. A low hum reverberated through their thick surface, and the effect was almost instantaneous on Saikhan and the two metal bending officers present in the group. They cried out as the metal in their armor was attracted to the oppositely charged magnet discs, resulting in them being scooped off of their feet and sent slamming into the flat surface of the discs, unable to move at all, all they could do was watch in terror as they were take towards a waiting truck nearby.

Saikhan grunted with the effort of resisting the influence, before he too was sent flying forwards, Tenzin yelled out and whipped up an air current, trying to ensnare the chief's feet before the pull became too much. But it wasn't enough, and Saikhan was pulled forwards into the disc of a waiting mecha tank.

He struggled valiantly to get away from the powerful force, but the magnet was too strong for him, and he was deposited into the back of a truck along with the other officers.

Boto and Sensha nodded to each other, and split in opposite directions from the group, each one taking one of the mecha tank group's flanks. Tenzin heard a hiss and a whump as a tank fired a pincer cable towards him, he air bent the tendril into the ground, and leaped over the trailing wire as he ran to engage the tank, using blasts and gusts of powerful air, each one putting a firm dent in the tank's chest and shoulder plating, resulting in it beginning to slow down considerably.

Two tanks on either side fired both of their cables at once, with them whipping towards Tenzin from both sides, threatening to catch him off guard, with the skill of a recognised master bender, he flung both arms up, resulting in a wave of wind that pushed the cables away from him, their heavy heads burying into the ground from the huge force of the gales.

A fifth cable surprised him as it shot towards his front, slamming into his chest and carrying him into the walls of police headquarters at a dangerous speed. The breath was taken out of him, and he felt pain light up across his body as he fell forwards, feeling blood on his tongue. His vision swam as he sluggishly moved his arms, commanding a wheel of air to spin around him to cushion his fall.

In a daze and numbly aware that his ankle may have been hurt badly, a wave of pressure ran over him, picking him up and sending him sliding back a few meters, he looked up in shocked horror, as a massive police airship fell out of the sky, it's flanks on fire as the metal screamed and squealed as it tore itself apart, the sound of it's violent impact made his ears block up, and everything had a slight ring to it as he glanced at Boto and Sensha, who had both been knocked to the ground in the exact same fashion as he had.

He heard screams and shouts behind him, and he turned to see equalists carting the group of operators and clerks away, bundling them into the truck behind the looming spectre of a mecha tank advancing towards him, with two others doing the same to Boto and Sensha. Three more of the contraptions joined the first tank in, aware of his abilities and skills, and were careful to close off any avenues of escape.

His vision blackened and dimmed as he felt himself drift away into unconsciousness, the last thing he heard was a muffled thud and several grunts of effort.

Sensha laid in wait for the machine to close in on her, just as the claw touched the edge of her shoulder she rolled out of it's clutches, getting a hold and clambering onto it's arm, the driver responded by swinging the main body around as much as possible while flailing the arms, forcing Sensha to hold on tight to avoid being thrown off, she summoned five wisps of flame over her fingertips, and curled them into a fist as she threw it at the cockpit's center window.

The man's eyes widened as the five flames combined into a single powerful one, resulting in part of the chassis and most of the window being obliterated in a huge explosion directed entirely at the mecha tank. She controlled it so the man wouldn't be killed, letting it knock him out instead. As his hands released tension on the controls, the arms and chassis stopped flailing, and the whole machine slumped like she ripped out it's heart or brain.

She ran over the top of it, dropping to the ground as at least seven cables flew at her, she leapt over one, ducked under another, but was caught off guard by the rest of them. One clipped her shoulder, making her cry out as it nearly broke the bone in the process. She gritted her teeth and kept running, her goal being the young man slumped on the ground twenty meters away.

One of them hit her foot, and she nearly crumpled to the ground there and than, but she soldiered on, hissing as another grazed her side, tearing her tunic and drawing blood in a jagged gash. She made the mistake of clamping a hand down on the wound, and it stung ferociously, she began to breathe heavily as she dropped to the ground in front of Boto. Not having enough time for subtlety or words, she picked him up the collar and slapped his cheeks several times, trying to get him to wake up.

On the fifth slap his eyes flew open and he gasped as he felt the immense stinging sensation piled onto his cheek, it was forgotten as soon as he saw the advancing tanks and the large gash on Sensha's side, he stood up immediately, shielding her as all their cables fired at the same time, each one with the intent of taking him down for good.

He narrowed his eyes as he gathered snow in a large cloud in front of him, raising a ice wall to repel the heavy metal claws.

Suddenly the noise of a car engine carried over the square, and Boto saw the grill of a black finished roadster glint in the sunlight as it mounted a pair of ramps, made by a girl with blue eyes and a boy next to her with bright green eyes.

The claws stopped their flight immediately, and the line of tanks turned as one to meet the new threat, rushing forward to take care of the new arrivals. He watched as the gang of youths bailed from the temporary aircraft, leaving it to slam into the front of one of the tanks, sending it reeling backwards as it's tracks squealed their protests, a tank behind it was unfortunate enough to be in it's way, and both of them were knocked off balance momentarily, enough for the new arrivals to begin their attacks.

He used their arrival to summon the stream of snow to him, changing it into a glob of softly glowing water, he rolled Sensha over, exposing her side wound. He covered it with the water, and the jagged edges of the gash were cleaned up, and the blood was washed away, the wound closed, giving her a nice and neat scar in place of it.

She opened her eyes, and stood up immediately, she looked at Boto for a second, the way a wounded soldier did with a battlefield medic. He sighed and stood up with her, and together they ran forwards.

The four of them advanced, Bolin ripped up a block of earth, flinging it towards one of the tanks on the edge of the group, it's driver couldn't maneuver it out of the way, and it tipped backwards as the massive object slammed into it's chest. One of it's fellows responded by launching a wire at Bolin, he threw his arms up and the earth under him jutted up, letting him dodge of harms way.

The wire lost it's tension as Bolin and Mako ran on either side of it, working together to take down the machine. He waved a small arc of flames at it, but it was ineffective, and it launched a second cable, the claw slammed into his midriff, and tightened a little to get the breath out of him, arcs of electricity danced down the wire towards him, and he gritted his teeth as it coursed into his body. He narrowed his eyes, recalling the lessons his father taught him long ago about redirection.

Forcing himself to calm down and focus, he reached towards the wire, getting a firm grip on it as electricity continued being poured into him. He took a deep breath, and threw the wire to the ground, he whipped his arm forward with one finger extended, the electricity flowed out of him through that finger, culminating in a bolt that slammed into the mecha tank, draining it's power and making it slump as the lights on it sputtered and died.

Korra ran past him, her arms trailing as the snow she passed gathered into two separate streams of water, trailing through the air behind her as a mecha tank turned to face her, she hopped over the cable it threw at her, and she ran up the ramps she and Bolin made beforehand. With a grunt of effort she leapt high into the air, twisting over the tanks canopy, the twin streams that followed her splashed down into the machine's exhaust pipes, playing havoc with the steam that powered it. She landed, sitting still for a moment as Bolin sent it crashing backwards with a spike of rock uppercutting it's chassis.

Two tanks remained, Bolin dived out of the way of their cables, dodging back as they charged towards him. Korra intercepted them, using balls and arcs of fire to distract them from him. Small holes on their shoulders opened, and a quarter of electrified bolas spun towards her, she covered herself with a wall of earth, but it was too slow, and they were about to wrap around her when two streams of razor-thin water sliced them into useless scrap. She saw Boto and Sensha run to join her.

"You make a nice distraction, thanks!" Boto said.

Korra's eyes darted towards him. "You never could say hello very well!"

He laughed. "I'll make up for it than!" the snow behind them rumbled and rose into the air, forming into several spikes of ice, he sent them rocketing forwards over their heads, and they stabbed into the tracks of the mecha tank they faced, ruining it's ability to move. She nodded appreciatively.

She glanced at Sensha. "Bolin could use some help.", she pointed over to where he was standing, breathing heavily. A fangirlish glint appeared for an instant in her eyes before disappearing. She nodded. "R-really?"

Korra arched an eyebrow, managing to keep her gaze fixed on the year-younger girl and on the remaining mecha tank. "Yeah. Nice to see you again by the way." she smiled sweetly, and Boto rolled his eyes.

"You too Korra." Sensha said. She nodded and ran off at a jog towards Bolin, who glanced at her with a curious expression as she drew near. In a stark contrast to how she usually spoke, she stammered. "N-n-need some help?" she eventually offered.

He grinned, although it had an tired edge. "Sure...I think I sprained my ankle with that dodge."

She chuckled a bit too readily. "That was impressive what you did!"

To his credit, Bolin laughed as well, putting her at ease. "I've got some sweet moves!", she grabbed his shoulder, and she guided them to Korra and Boto, who were getting ready to assist Asami and Mako with their opponents.

In less than ten seconds, before half of them even blinked, she had just taken out the five equalists attacking with nothing more than a few dodges, barely breaking a sweat _or _dislodging a hair. She tipped her head as Tenzin thanked her, running past to help Mako deal with the final tank.

Mako grunted as he swept another wave of fire at the tank, getting increasingly frustrated that his fire bending could do no damage whatsoever to the thick platinum that covered the entire machine. He glanced at Tenzin as he flipped over one of it's cables, sending a gust of air towards the cockpit that knocked it off-balance temporarily.

The young man nodded and continued his sweeps and arcs, well aware that they would do nothing whatsoever against the toughened armor, serving as a distraction at best.

Tenzin ducked behind it, getting into the space between it's tracks, he swirled his hands, and thrust them upwards, a spear of wind shot into the back of the machine, sending it flying high into the air, it landed with a crunch on the roof of police headquarters.

Everyone gathered together. "Are you alright?" Korra asked as Tenzin walked over to her. He nodded. "I'm fine," he looked everyone gathered. "Thank you kids, we would have been overwhelmed if you didn't arrive."

Boto nodded, looking at the four of them. "You saved us from Amon." he stopped as he noticed the questioning glance Mako was giving him, and the curious looks from Bolin and Asami. He chuckled. "Sorry. My name is Boto," he pointed at Sensha as she supported Bolin. "That's Sensha.", Asami smiled at her, and Mako nodded his greeting.

Mako looked past them, and groaned. "Uh guys...look." he pointed down the avatar road, and everyone's eyes widened as they saw the airships approaching a little island sitting on it's lonesome in the bay.

Tenzin went pale for a moment. "Oh no." he breathed.

* * *

潮


	23. The Mask, and The Loss

He stood there, not daring to utter a single word. As the father and mother bent down to pickup the white-masked stranger, he felt a strange sensation tugging at him. He stiffened as he noticed that the hills surrounding the field and orchard had been obscured by a impenetrable white fog, which slowly drifted towards him, gradually swallowing up the scenery. The family didn't notice it, focusing on the stranger that the father had slung over his shoulder, walking through the golden fields to a small farm house off in the distance. They didn't even balk as that too was swallowed up by the white, not even caring that they were about to be lost in it themselves.

The boy's even laughed and joked with each other as they followed their parents, and soon in a instant, the white fog had completely swallowed them, and Tai instinctively backed away a step. Something told him to turn around, and he swallowed as he saw that the fog had now reached the edge of the orchard, and was beginning to cover the abandoned satotruck as well.

Inside he panicked, unsure of where to go or what to do, he thought about running into the middle of the field, but something stopped him, and he stood his ground as the fog began to cover him too as well…

His eyes opened, and he let go of the breath he was keeping pent up. A laugh startled him, and he saw the older brother, sitting in a chair facing the stranger, who still kept that eerie mask on. He was making wild motions with his hands, and his mask shook with laughter as he entertained himself with his own movements.

Outside he heard the roaring wind, and the raging of the elements as rain lashed the windows, the crackle of wood made him turn to see a fire burning cheerily in a alcove nearby, supplying the whole room with warmth and light.

He noticed that the little brother seemed to be less than amused at the stranger's antics, and was busy playing with a miniature air nomad glider in front of the fire, throwing dark petulant looks at the two of them every once in a while.

Tai remembered that. And he remembered how childish he was being.

The turning of the door knob surprised everyone in the room, and instantly the older brother got out of his chair, walking past his little sibling to see who was at the door. But the stranger said something to him, and the child complained a bit before nodding, standing back and allowing him to answer the door instead.

As the stranger approached, laughter was heard, although coming from deeper and gruffer voices. He hesitated, and the door was kicked open, and the little brother screamed in terror. Tai could only watch as two men, wearing predominantly dark and tattered clothes walked in, stepping over the stunned stranger.

One of them wore an almost immaculately kept, red silk sash, tied around his arm, and his orange eyes twinkled with mirth as he saw the two children standing close by. He chuckled as he bent down to study the little brother, who cringed and looked away as he hid behind his older brother.

"Who do we have here huh? Look at this pipsqueaks Lai!" he tapped his much larger companion on the shoulder, who looked down at the two of them with piggish brown eyes. "They look funny Kaizo!"

The older brother scowled, his piercing gray eyes making the large one hesitate a little. "Just take what you need, and _go_."

The one called Kaizo barked with laughter and mimed wiping a tear from his eye as a cruel glint appeared and he rushed forward, grabbing the older boy and dragging him forward, he held up his hand, and the older brother's eyes widened as he saw flames gradually coat his other. "_Ohhhh _don't you like a bit of warmth _boy_?" he leaned forward, until his terrible breath forced the older brother to jerk away from him. "It's not that bad…" he said, holding it closer and closer to the boy's cheek.

The younger brother cried out in terror for his older brother, getting the attention of the larger one, who lumbered forward, picking him up by the scruff while laughing cruelly.

"_Let them go…_" a deep voice drawled. Kaizo had the misfortune of turning around to sneer at it's owner. A pale brown fist crashed into his jaw, causing the cowardly little man to cry out with pain, Lai scowled and dropped the little brother to the floor, turning to berate his larger partner. The stranger ducked under his slow and clumsy arm, slamming an elbow into his pit, the large man uttered a surprised yell, and swung his other arm down towards the stranger's hooded head, it found nothing but air, and the stranger lashed a foot out at the giant's legs, sweeping them out from under him, making him tumble onto Kaizo.

Kaizo fought to escape from the large man, and fire began to flicker into existence in his palm, suddenly the stranger ducked around his side, jabbing him several times. The man growled and swung a fire covered fist at him, only for it to sputter and wink out as his bending failed and died.

The stranger grabbed him by the cuff, raising him up until his feet didn't even touch the floor. "You will never come here again." He commanded.

Kaizo sobbed and nodded, and the stranger relinquished his grasp, making the man fall to the floor, he picked himself up and ran, dragging Lai with him as they disappeared outside into the heavy rain.

The stranger dusted himself off and knelt in front of the two boys. "Are you both alright? Did they hurt you?"

The older brother nodded, and the younger one did so as well, although a little more reluctantly. Tai grimaced as they both shot forward, burying their faces into his chest.

He heard a whisper, and he noticed the sound of rain falling had ceased, and the dark grey surroundings outside the windows were replaced with a featureless white fog. He noticed the outlining of the entrance to a cave appeared in the thick soup, he pursed his lips and walked towards it, suddenly fearful of what he might find inside. He felt a sense of deja vu as he neared it,and with each step he found it harder and harder to think straight.

Without warning, a light-headedness filled him, and he closed his eyes once more, leaving the scene behind…

He opened them a short while after, seeing that there wasn't any strange feeling or itch coming from seeing the light. This unremarkable light forced it's way through the leaves that surrounded hi-

Leaves?

He sat up, absently noting the wooden splinters that stuck out of the back of his longcoat. A cold unwelcome breeze blew through the leaves, and a pair of softly glowing green eyes studied him, from a perch on a higher branch.

The owner of these eyes chittered and glided down towards him, his long black-tipped ears flapping in the breeze. He was smaller than the other lemurs that lived on the island. Tai smiled to himself, scratching him under the chin as he alighted onto his shoulder.

"Hey little guy." his voice had a warm tone, and the greeting was quietly said. The Lemur chittered as the boy continued scratching the fur under his chin, and after a few seconds he began to stamp out a series of thuds on his shoulder.

Tai looked at the grounds below, noting that the snowdrifts had deepened in the time he'd been meditating, he planned to go inside in a few minutes, mostly to see what time it was and find out if Tenzin had come back yet.

Little Guy's pleasant chittering changed gradually, and soon enough he had stopped stamping his foot, and was looking at a point above them. Tai tilted his head curiously. "What's wrong?"

To his surprise the Lemur pointed to where he was looking, unfortunately human eyes weren't as keen as a lemurs. he gripped the sides of the sturdy branch he sat on, preparing to swing down to ground level when he heard a strange whistling noise, growing louder and louder as whatever it was approached the tree fast.

He noticed that the shadow over the snow had grown larger, larger than a sky bison even. He heard a sharp crack as something speared down into the steps, and the rasp of metal over leather as something slid down it's length.

He heard footsteps, than the sound of more rasping, and more footsteps came after. One of the makers of these noises revealed himself by running under the shadow of the tree, and Tai scowled.

Waiting a few seconds in case any more of them were following, he dropped down onto the head of the masked chi blocker, dropping him to the ground, the man was unconscious before he was even off-balance.

He stayed near the cover the trunk provided for a moment, before running up the steps, just as a group of equalists had disappeared over the top. He heard another whistling sound behind him, his eyes widened as he realized the thing making the sound was heading right towards him. He twisted out of the way, nearly falling off the steps as a spike slammed into the ground where he was standing, sending cracks throughout the stone.

Tai didn't stop to wait around and ran up the remaining steps, seeing Lin engaging chi blockers with a snarl on her features. He ran forward, leaping to her aid.

A electrified bola whipped towards him, he was used to their tactics by now so he easily ducked under it, and flung a hand towards the offender, a gust of wind slammed into the man's chest, sending him tumbling across the snow, putting him out of the fight. He twisted his hands together, than flung them out, sending a gust of wind rushing outwards. A pair of equalists were caught off-guard by his gale, enough for Lin to snag them with a pair of wires and send the two crashing into each other.

She flipped over the head of one of them, she stuck her foot out towards the ground, and stomped down, causing a block of earth to slam into the chi blocker, taking him out quickly.

Lin noticed Tai as he finished blowing away one of them with a sweep of wind. "Nice of you to wake up!" she growled.

He didn't answer at first, twisting to the side as another bola spun towards him. He quickly glanced at her. "Meditations important. Wheres Pema and the kids?"

"They're inside, they're safe!" she said as she sliced another bola in half, her wire snapped back up and shot towards the man who threw it, grabbing and throwing him at a comrade nearby.

A group of white lotus sentries ran up the steps towards them, as the shadow of another airship loomed behind them. They joined Tai and Lin, with their head, a stockily built man with rough features, regarded Tai with a strange look. "Think you can fight them again boy? More than two of 'em this time."

Tai smirked. "I'll manage."

The stocky man with the stern eyes nodded, and turned to his men. "Lui, stay near the pond, take care of any flankers! Ching, support us from the rear! We am not letting _any_ through got it?"

They all saluted him instantly. "Yes sir!" they shouted, before splitting off to where they needed to go.

A cracking sound was heard, and they watched as the iron spike that was embedded into the steps was retracted upwards, in time for a fresh one to spear down towards them, this time landing on the top step of the staircase.

Lin narrowed her eyes as she noticed the slender-built man staring at them behind a pair of green goggles strapped over a brown three-quarter mask, he ran forward off the loading ramp of the airship, speeding towards them on a harness suspended to the wire, his squad of blockers followed, and after them a hugely-built man, with the eyes the colour of gold, grabbed a harness as well.

One of the White Lotus guards paled as he saw the massive two hander strapped to the large hulk's back, backing away in fear. The stockily built sergeant placed a hand on his shoulder, and the youth calmed down, stepping forwards with his mouth set in a determined line.

The lieutenant and his squad landed on the steps, and charged them. Bolas and canisters flew towards them, and the young guard named Lui drew water out of the pond, forming it into two thick tentacles, a few of the silver canisters were sliced in half, their payloads unreleased.

A chi blocker took advantage of the distraction, leaping over the pond and landing several jabs on the water bender's exposed side. He hissed and the tentacles disappeared, he swiped clumsily at the trained equalist, who responded with a swift kick to his face, the young man went limp and fell to the ground with a sigh.

The man named Ching roared as he saw his friend fall, throwing a large chunk of earth at the equalist, the man didn't have time to scream as it slammed him through a wall and out the other side, disappearing from sight. The lieutenant rushed forward, ducking under a blast from Tai and a wire from Lin as he unsheathed his Kali sticks, electrifying their tips as he came closer to the earthbender. Ching faced towards him, summoning a wall of earth to stop him, the lieutenant used it as a spring board to launch high above him, spinning around and lashing his boot out. Ching fell to the ground, unconscious.

Tai was about to run to help them when a massive blade of metal was swung towards his side, he yelped, blasting a gust of wind at the ground that propelled him upwards, as he came down he reached to unsheathe his own sword, with his mind trying work out what possible help it would be against a sword that large. His hand found nothing but air, and his mind worked slowly, trying comprehend the problem.

Right, he didn't have his sword with him.

Suddenly a wire wrapped around his chest, and pulled him out of harms way, sending him tumbling to a halt near Lin, who stepped forward to face the large attacker. The man advanced slowly while more chi blockers took places on his sides, advancing towards her, forming a barrier that stopped them from helping the white lotus men.

An mass of fireballs and water whips struck the giant's back, as more white lotus men charged up the stairs, growling he turned to face them, running towards them with his sword held forwards.

Lin didn't show her relief, and waited for the chi blockers to act first. They obliged, and two of them ran at her, swinging a pair of bolas. Her cables snaked out, catching them off-guard. They cried as she lifted them high into the air and slammed them into each other, she waited until they were a safe distance to fall from before releasing her wires.

The rest of them moved more cautiously, and Lin quickly spoke a few words to Tai as he stood up, sword at the ready. "Get inside, and make sure they haven't gotten past us!"

He whispered back. "I'm not leaving you to take them on alone!"

She sighed and wrapped a wire around his chest, he protested as she dumped him in front of the entrance inside. He went to run back to her when she stopped him with a glare, reluctantly he nodded, running inside.

She turned to face the equalists alone, in her thoughts, she counted seven that she could see, plus the lieutenant. Her eyes narrowed.

* * *

Tai couldn't stop thinking about what was going to happen to the former chief of police.

He hated himself for running inside, he hated her for telling him to, it was strange. This was once again the first time in a long time that he ever felt concern about leaving anyone behind.

Although she was a world class metalbender, and most likely the world's _greatest earthbender_, but didn't make him fell better about leaving her to face them alone.

He shook his thoughts away, focusing on the single goal she gave him. He heard a noise in the girls dormitory, and immediately ran into the it's hallway, ready to face off against any trespassers who had bypassed the courtyard. A object crashed to the floor upstairs, and he turned back around, taking the stairs nearby. They led into a room, almost identical to the one below, except for the fact that the doorway in front of him led outside to a balcony, that ringed the entire upper level of the building. He looked to his left, hearing the noise again and a grunt of pain as someone tripped over a object.

He ran towards the source, turning into a room to see Jinora picking herself up. "Jinora! Thought you were an equalist!"

She glanced at him as she rummaged through a cupboard nearby. He looked inside, seeing a familiar bright orange pole leaning against a rack of orange robes.

He looked at her and she nodded, tossing the staff to him. "All yours."

"Thanks." he turned to head back out when he thought of something. "Shouldn't you be with your mother?"

She didn't answer, and Tai nodded in understanding. "Careful then."

He ran out into the hallway, going back down the stairs and to the main junction room, he grimaced as he heard the noises and pained yells outside, hoping that they came from the equalists rather than Lin. To his horror, he heard the sound of electricity discharging and a woman's voice cry out in pain, and a thud as someone fell to the ground.

He froze for a moment, waiting to see equalists pouring through the entrance at any moment. It was than, that he heard the sound of a window opening, and the whoosh of a glider as it floated on the wind.

Tai ran into the men's dormitory, heading for his room. He flung the door open, seeing the thing he needed was still leaning against the wall, waiting for to be picked up.

The leathery feel of the scabbard touching his hands was welcome, as he slung it onto his back, securing it in place by tightening the strap near his waist. He tugged on it experimentally and, satisfied, he ran out again. As he neared the main entrance room he heard a thump on the roof, and narrowed his eyes, changing direction and diving out a open window nearby, he blasted a pulse of air at the ground below, propelling himself upwards. The shingles made a clacking noise as he landed, and immediately he saw the lieutenant nearby, lying unconscious.

Curious he looked over the edge of the roof, seeing that the air bender kids were gathered around Lin, with several knocked out equalists sprawled all over the place. He arched an eyebrow, noting to never piss off any of them.

The group of guards from before had recovered and each of them ran to one of the unconscious terrorists, quickly binding their hands. They dragged them into a rough line in front of Lin, the kids stood behind her, cheering.

He heard a grumble overhead, looking up to see Oogi's large grey belly sail overhead, and land in front of Lin and the children. He hopped off of the roof, landing near Lin as Tenzin dismounted, and he went straight to his children. They all embraced him, and he looked at Lin disapprovingly. "You let them fight? Do you realize what could have happened!" he didn't realise he had raised his voice.

"I would have been toast if it weren't for your kids," she folded her arms, as Tenzin's eyes softened a little. "You should be proud." she looked at them with a warm glint. "You taught them well." she smiled as he looked down at his children, the largest smile possible on him. She jerked her chin towards the dormitory building. "Go on. Be with your wife."

He nodded, and the kids followed him towards the entrance into the building. He looked at Lin. "Thank you."

She waved it off. Tai walked towards her. "So there _are _qualifications for being Chief of Police."

Lin rolled her eyes at his teasing, as he felt a wave of fatigue creep on him. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "That was good work back there, you aren't a complete loss."

His second sigh was even deeper, but she managed to get a smirk out of him at least. Korra and the others dismounted and walked towards them, she looked a little concerned as she approached. "Are you two alright?" she said. More or less aiming it at Tai.

"A man wakes up to find the island under attack?" he paused, mulling it over as she scowled. "Yep."

She punched him in the shoulder, and he hissed a little. "Don't joke about it! You all could have been-"

"Korra." Lin interrupted her. "We know what could have happened. But it didn't."

The young Avatar sighed. "Okay."

She stepped back, as Bolin turned towards them, a pensive look on him. "There's more coming guys!"

Everyone walked towards him, seeing a fleet of at least three black and red airships floating towards the island, slowing drawing closer and closer from across the bay. Korra scowled, and turned immediately, with Mako following her. Lin had the same idea, and they left the other three outside.

Tai's mind worked furiously, thinking of ways to handle at least fifty or more equalists, and most likely their leader as well. His hands curled at the thought of the white-masked man, and they balled into fists when he knew that Tarrin would invariably be there as well.

Bolin noticed the dark look growing on him. "We'll come up with something, shouldn't be too difficult." Tai sighed at how full of _hope_ Bolin was.

Asami stayed quiet, observing the massive floating ships as they grew larger and larger, getting closer by the minute. Her mind was somewhere else entirely.

Their moods would have darkened further, were it not for the piercing cries of a newborn coming from the building behind them. Despite the large shadows beginning to creep onto the island, despite the burning city in the distance, and despite the grim white mask that pervaded everyone's thoughts, the three of them smiled to themselves.

"Well that's something." Bolin whispered to no one in particular.

The shadow of those ships had reached the bottom of the stairs, and the massive floaters themselves had just reached the cliffs that made up the island's physical boundaries.

They heard the running of feet, turning to see Mako, Korra, Tenzin and Lin heading to them. They only had eyes for the ships coming closer to them with each second. Korra looked at her master "What do you want to do," she paused, seeing the look of worry growing on him. "Tenzin?" she said a little louder.

Tenzin shook his head for a moment, returning her look, sighing as he looked at the ground. "I need to protect my family, and get them as far away from this as possible," he looked out across the bay with a mournful look, at the multitudes of buildings that had caught ablaze, and the smoke that now filled the skies. His gaze settled on the ships approaching the island and he nodded. "If Amon got his hands on my children... I hate to even think of it."

Lin placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "If you're leaving, then I'm going with you."

He looked at her. "But-"

She silenced him with a determined stare. "No arguments. You and your family are the last airbenders, barring one exception. There's no way in the world I'm letting that monster take your bending."

He noticed the steel in her eyes, and nodded. "Thank you, Lin." he turned to Korra. "Korra." she looked at him uncertainly. "I want you to leave this island and hide for the time being."

Fire grew in her eyes, and she folded her arms together, "I'm not giving up.", her look softened as she caught herself.

Her master placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm not asking you to. I sent word to the United Forces. They will be here in three days, once my family is safe I _will _return. With reinforcements, we can stop them from taking over the city completely."

She looked at him. "What you're saying is," she hung her head. "We need to be patient." she sighed, knowing how incompatible she was with that concept.

He squeezed her shoulder, and cheer was in his eyes. "You're learning well."

She nodded, although there was still reluctance in her eyes. He noticed his other student was still looking at the advancing airships. He smiled reassuringly at her before turning and walking towards the boy, who stood on the lip of the top steps, consciously separating himself from the others.

"I know what you're thinking."

Tai jumped a little, he sighed as he looked over his shoulder at Tenzin. "Yeah, can't dissuade me." as he said this his hand accidentally touched the tip of his sword's scabbard, and somehow that comforted him a little.

"You don't sound like you've made your mind up." Tenzin folded his arms, fixing a look at his pupil.

Tai stopped himself from turning around, and focused on those black and red airships. "Of course I have." he quietly stated, he wasn't sure if that to his benefit or Tenzin's.

He froze a little as he was wheeled around. "Tai. You're a good person, don't lose sight of that."

The boy snorted and turned back around, staring at the approaching equalist ships with dark intent. "What makes you think I'm good?" he whispered, not really caring if he heard or not.

"I heard about what you did to find Korra, and I'm grateful." Tenzin's tone was warm, and despite himself Tai sighed, turning to face him again. "A _little_ good, at least." he said. He noticed that Pema and the kid's were being led out of the building, and were walking towards Oogi, Pema was throwing glances at him every once in a while, most of them concerned or holding some kind of worry.

He let himself smile a little as he looked back at Tenzin. "Got to go." Tenzin made a surprised noise as the boy suddenly hugged him before turning back around, pointedly not trying to show his face. He didn't notice the warm look coming from the middle aged man, or the one's coming from his family, or even the smirk coming from Korra.

"Stay safe." he heard Tenzin say to his back. The man turned to walk to his bison and waiting family.

Lin was already seated in the saddle. She cupped her hands. "Tenzin, if we're leaving we better do it now!", Tenzin nodded and produced a little stream of wind, using it to land on Oogi.

He sat down and took hold of the bison's reigns, after one last look at the people and city he was about to leave behind, a determined glint entered his eyes. "Oogi, yip yip!"

As the family and his master departed, Tai watched as two of the approaching airships angled away from the main group of five, setting their sights on the escaping bison. Others joined Oogi as well, piloted by Air Disciples or White Lotus carrying children and women away from the impending attack.

Naga padded towards Korra, sticking her muzzle out for her to scratch and rub, mainly for the comforting sensation she always felt near her oldest friend. Everyone gathered near her, and Tai looked critically at the saddle. "We all won't fit." he calmly stated.

Korra nearly smacked herself for not realizing. "Damn! What wil-"

He dragged the scratched orange shaft from his back, shaking it a little. The effect was instantaneous as the tiny movement activated the simple mechanism inside the wood. A folded up piece of membranous material exploded outwards from slits in both sides of the shaft, settling into a recognizable gull-wing shape. "I've got this, I can fly above you guys.", as he said this, something in the back of his mind raged at him for not deciding to go tough it out alone and go after Amon. He pushed it down.

She nodded, than her eyes widened as she saw something behind him. A familiar whistling noise was heard as a landing spike slammed into the already tortured ground near them. The stern eyed man and his men took up a guard position between them and the spike, Korra stared him for a bit. He looked back at her. "Go Avatar! We'll hold them off!"

Korra swallowed and nodded, she turned to Asami and the brothers, quickly ushering them onto Naga, and climbed onto her neck after them, taking hold of the reins. "Let's go girl!"

Naga roared and took off as chi blockers began to slide down towards them. Tai used a burst of wind to propel himself upwards, the wings went taut as he bent the air behind him, he was propelled forward, giving him enough momentum to fly without having to bend. A few bolas were thrown up at him, inevitably they missed, not being designed to subdue _airborne_ targets.

He banked to avoid the temple's main tower, and saw Naga running down a icy path that wound around the back of the temple, from his vantage point he saw that it connected to a small beach separated from the pier by a cliff that jutted out farther than the others around it. He noticed someone leaping off the roof below, sliding down the snowy slope that overshadowed the path. Tai narrowed his eyes as he saw the kali sticks in the man's hands.

He angled the glider towards the lieutenant, intending to dive-bomb him out of commission, he was beaten to the punch almost literally, when Naga leaped up and slapped him with a great paw, causing the man considerable pain as he was sent tumbling into the trees nearby.

Tai wished he had a pet like that.

He shook the thoughts from him, shadowing his fleeing friends as Naga dove off of the pier, Korra whirled her hands, quickly creating a bubble that kept her and the others dry and breathing as they disappeared under the frigid waves.

He breathed a sigh of relief, than yelped as a iron spike nearly spiked through his glider's wing. He banked and swerved as the airship nearby fired the rest of it's harpoons, all of them barely missing him by a inch.

As his flight leveled out, he noticed a figure standing behind one of the windows in the gondola, looking at him with piercing grey eyes. Tai looked away, using his bending to give him a little burst of speed to get out of range.

The airship dropped away as he bent a stream of cloud from the skies above him, forming it into a wall behind him that obscured any sight. He breathed a sigh of relief as he angled the glider downwards, dropping into a nosedive to keep pace with the barely noticeable trail of bubbles that broke the surface of the waves.

* * *

_Republic City, near Police Headquarters._

Makei sputtered and coughed, reaffirming his grip on the handhold above his head, eyes watering as the smoke stung at them. He looked around himself, seeing bodies flung all over the gondola, with massive tears visible on all of it's walls. He felt like death as he opened his mouth.

"SOUND OFF!" he roared, before his voice gave away and he coughed and sputtered, doubling over as the smoke in his lungs protested deeply about his speaking ability.

Some of his men began to stir, and a few of the hardier ones stood up first, going around to help the others, trying to find their way through the smoke.

The commander took a step forward, careful not to slip on the now slanted and twisted metal floor. He noticed someone hobbling towards him out of the thick roiling smoke, she dragged her feet, courtesy of the man slumped on her shoulder. She was also limping heavily, but she would never complain. Even then, she managed a salute. "Here sir-" she managed before coughing. She wiped a bit of blood trailing from the corner of her mouth.

Hei's head lolled, just before his eyes fluttered open. His first reaction was to place his feet on the ground, and take the weight off of Nisha. He yelped as his ankle gave way, and Nisha's hand quickly grabbed him, stopping him from falling into the hole that punched through the floor, revealing the nauseating sight of a street at least twenty metres below them. He clapped a hand on Nisha as he limped past them, screwing his eyes shut as pain flared somewhere on his leg. If he had to hazard a guess, his ankle would be the offender.

He heard a groaning noise off to his left, the pivot connecting the long bench to the wall was bent and twisted out of shape, and the metal squealed with every as it swung back and forth, the lock mechanism destroyed in their crash landing.

As more officers began to rouse themselves he looked into the hole, trying to figure out _exactly_ how the equalists found the time to refine a design as sophisicated as those fighters. It only took _one_ to take down the force's largest airship.

He shook his head as his men began to gather around him, looking down into the hole as well. But not with trepidation or fear, but determination. With a unspoken agreement the older officers fired their wires at the edges of the hole, the claws biting deep into the metal to get a hold. With a nod at the commander they swung themselves down, using their wires to lower themselves to street level.

Makei ushered everyone down, soon finding himself with the two most heavily injured members of his squad. Nisha hissed as a unseen wound on her leg complained. Hei groaned audibly as he accidentally placed weight on his leg. He coughed as the smoke grew thicker and thicker, and a pipe on the otherside of the room squealed and exploded with violent force, the whole structure shook violently, and the floor began to crack and tear in many sections. Without a word he stepped forward, grabbing the two of them in a bear hold, and fired two wires from his right arm into the still intact floor around the hole.

They protested as he dropped through the hole into the much clearer air below, he controlled the tension on his wires, keeping them tight so that they wouldn't descend at a bone breaking velocity. The downed blimp above them shuddered as it slid forwards into the broken flank of the building it was embedded in, resulting in them swinging dangerously.

Makei nearly lost control of the wire, and they lurched downwards for several heart-pounding seconds. He grunted with the exertion of keeping the rebelling wire tense, managing to stop it swinging. Nisha and Hei slipped from his grip a little, he quickly held them close, remembering what twenty metre falls onto concrete did to the human body.

Luckily the rest of their descent passed without incident, and the end of it was signalled by a pained groan from Hei as his foot touched the ground. Makei stepped back from them, wobbling a little before righting himself. He kept close to them, as they both looked about ready to collapse.

He glanced at the massive broken vehicle above them, as the metal inside it's superstructure squealed again, and the entire thing shifted another time, this time awfully close to collapsing entirely.

Makei turned to the gathered officers. "Listen up! We're going to take back control of the station!" he pointed behind him first, than swung his arm upwards, at their downed transport. "But first I suggest we get out of the shadow of this thing first!"

Comprehension dawned on the stunned and shell-shocked officers, their mouths hanging open for a instant, before shifting back into proffesionals. They barked orders, organising everyone into a line and pointing towards the grey building that sat a few blocks away. The once-mighty airship groaned a final time, and they all began to run, with Makei and another officer scooping up his two injured subordinates using a stretcher made out of their entwined wires.

They ran, as the entire thing began to fall, managing to clear the area as the entire structure slammed into the pavement with a ear shattering roar of twisting metal and crackiing stone

A large cloud of dust rushed outwards, overtaking them quickly. The ones who still had their mouths and noses covered recovered the fastest, and used their native earth bending to quell the raging wave of dust, making it fall to the ground in several coarse streams. The group as whole began their trek towards headquarters, picking their way through abandoned bicycles and rickshaws, and moving around the burning wrecks of satomobiles.

* * *

_Yue Bay. Drainage Tunnel A-8._

Everyone looked on as more and more of the bloated airships covered the tiny island with their massive shadows. No one could tear their eyes away from the terrible sight, even Naga watched with a strange tilt of her head.

Asami pointedly looked away from a equally devastating sight, avoiding Mako's eyes as he brusquely walked past her, moving towards Korra, who stood at the opening of the drainage tunnel, unable to believe that the island was really under equalist control. She only blinked when she noticed a blurry object skimming across the water towards them.

Tai slowed the glider down, hopping onto the drainage pipe and folding the wings back in the wood, before stowing on his back. He took one last glimpse at the island before walking into the tunnel past the two of them, moving to where Bolin and Asami stood.

Korra jerked a little as she felt his hand on her shoulder, the tips of his fingers briefly brushing against her skin. She fought the urge to look at Mako, to find comfort in his eyes. She wanted to feel this way for running away.

Mako didn't notice the conflicting feelings inside her, shaking her shoulder a bit. "Korra. We should get moving." he said gently. Reluctantly she moved at his touch, and he escorted back into the darkness of the tunnel, towards the others. She looked at the ground as she noticed the disdainful look she felt Asami was justified at showing, not wanting to feel any more guilt on top of what was already tearing her up inside.

Everyone moved into the depths, not looking back even once.

* * *

潮


	24. The Tunnels, and The Split

Bolin made a disgusted noise as another mole-rat ran over his foot, giving him a shivering sensation and the urge to earth bend the entire tunnel. "If one more…", something squeaked and he whirled around, stomping a foot down in preparation for a epic earth bending onslaught- A tiny little tongue tickled his chin, and he sighed, relieved that it's just Pabu.

Ahead Mako stopped and looked at him strangely. "Quit it Bolin! You'll collapse the tunnel on us!" without waiting for an answer he turned and walked on, following Korra closely, the source of his light leaving as well.

Bolin arched an eyebrow, than jumped a little as he felt something touching his shoulder. He turned, seeing Asami smiling sympathetically at him. "If it helps, I'm not a fan of rats either Bolin."

That made him feel better about the rats, but not the fact that his brother had just snapped at him. He nodded and kept walking, his footsteps echoing off of the curved walls. As he slowly made his way behind the pair in front, both of whom he noted a bit sourly had flames in their hands, he looked back down the dark of the tunnel behind himself, Asami walked just a few paces behind him, currently caught in her own thoughts. He looked past her, checking that the last member of their group hadn't fallen behind.

He noticed a pair of grey eyes that were downcast, and he mentally checked off that everyone was present and within sight. He shivered a little as he remembered the sensations of crawling through the pitch-black tunnels alone, feeling the city's muck suck his fingers in, hearing only his own ragged breath in the deadening silence, being punctuated by the shark-rats or other unmentionables. But as his eyes settled on Mako, he saw an image of those golden eyes heavy with worry as he bent down to help him out of the dark maze.

He shook those old thoughts away, and scratched Pabu under the chin to stop himself from coming back to them. That was a long time ago.

Mako and Korra had stopped at a intersection, waiting for everyone else to catch up to them. Mako had his arms folded, and was even tapping his foot impatiently, and staring daggers at Tai for being the slowest. The seventeen year old replied back with the same glare, neither of them backing down or thinking of looking away..

Bolin sighed as he noticed that they both were about ready to explode. He quickly moved in between them, and held his hands up in a placative gesture, his green eyes twinkled with cheer as he noticed the incredibly dark look present in both of their faces. "So guys? Which way's the best?" he chuckled nervously as he noticed his words had no effect whatsoever on the two of them. "Heh. Guys?"

He threw a pleading look at Korra, who smiled and walked past Mako, standing next to Bolin and folding her arms. "Mako…" she started. Bolin's older brother shook his head a little, noticing that she was there. She smiled, making his eyes soften. "Where do you think we should go?"

Mako tore his petulant stare from Tai, and looked down the tunnel leading to the group's left. He stole look at the tunnel heading the opposite direction as well, before sighing and shaking his head. "I don't know." as he confessed this fact, he slumped a little and looked down at the floor.

Korra nodded, than looked to Tai, her eyes questioning. He looked around himself, and began to sigh when some kind of smell crawled up his nose, not with the scent of freshly dead corpses or human waste, but instead the aroma of a slowly cooking soup reached him. He pointed towards the darkness of the tunnel they were in, "I smell something, there's people down here."

He noticed Mako had leveled a incredulous look at him. "Air bender remember? I can smell it on the air down here." He explained, unconsciously adopting a tone teachers used when trying to teach a slow learner about what simple mathematics was. Tai winced as he remembered the less pleasant smells that were present down here as well.

"Really? And do you _know _if they are equalists or not?" Mako couldn't help sneering as he folded his arms together, tilting his head in a infuriating fashion.

Something snapped in Tai, and he grabbed the fire bending idiot by the collar. "I'm tired of the constant _shit_ that comes out of your mouth!"

Surprisingly Mako didn't struggle, instead leaning his face closer to Tai's. "You're nothing but a kid with his toy knife, going after a man for petty _reasons_."

He felt his collar jerk forward as he was thrown towards the wall, slamming into it and sending a echoing thud down the tunnels. No one spoke up at his display, and Tai made the mistake of turning to look at everyone. Bolin's mouth was wide open, his jaw now on a journey towards the ground, he moved past him, bending down to help his brother up. Asami was silent as she usually was lately, looking at the ground and pointedly not at the recovering Mako.

Korra stared at Tai, with nothing but anger. She poked him in the chest. "Stop it! You're both idiots!" she looked at everyone gathered. "Amon is attacking the city, and you feel _now's_ the best time to fight each other?", she pinched her nose and pushed past them, hopping onto Naga's back and ushering her past the four of them, leading the way down the tunnel Tai smelt the food coming from.

He sighed forcefully, hating himself for the way he acted. Mako pushed past him, nearly knocking him off-balance. Tai narrowed his eyes and walked down the tunnel after him and Bolin, stopping to wait for Asami to catch up, she avoided his eyes as she walked past, keeping hers glued to the ground. He stuck his hands in his coat's great pockets, trying to keep from looking at everyone in front of him, not wanting to see the judging looks they were most likely throwing in his direction.

The tunnel shook as something large moved overhead, everyone forget their individual problems and quickly ran to the side of the tunnel, keeping close to the walls to avoid being seen through the grates above. Tai caught a glimpse of an iron colored wheel, around it a continuous roll of segmented treads rolled, up and below it, driving the mecha tank whose chassis it was attached to. The treads stopped moving for a moment, and the entire machine halted, as if the occupant heard something moving about below the street.

Immediately everyone stopped moving, slowed their breathing as the sounds of moving treads and the tinkling of grenades on belts stopped, and voices began to rise, the grate shook slightly as boots moved about on top of it, and began to shudder and protest, before dying down and staying quiet.

Mako swallowed and looked down the tunnel at where Korra had ridden down, feeling torn between going to her and _staying still_. Asami seemed to know what decision he was going to come to, as she quickly shook her head and pointed upwards, without a squeak coming out of her mouth. Tai for his part just stared upwards, wondering why the grate had stopped moving, Bolin couldn't help but stare as well, and was busy petting Pabu on the head to stop any squeaks from him.

The only sound being made in the tunnel was when water dripped down the grates and splashed onto the hard cement, echoing off the curved walls. The grate squealed loudly as something from above slammed into it, a three pronged claw poking through the gaps, a light from above lit up the teens in sharp relief as with a huge shudder the grate was torn away from it's place among the others, and light flowed down into the darkness more readily, a group of boots dropped down into the tunnel, and green lenses ran towards them, the muffled voices behind them impossible to discern. There were ten in total, two to handle each of them if Korra were around.

Not bothering with chivalry, they all ran forwards at once, each throwing three electrified bolas in quick succession, many of them were directed at Asami, who they probably pegged as the weakest to be being a non-bender.

Asami wondered if they realized how hypocritical they were being. The dim lighting hid her smirk as she whirled around the side of a blocker and extended her arm, putting pressure on the mechanism that triggered the spark. The emitter glowed briefly before releasing a discharge onto the blocker's chest, who cried out briefly before he fell to the concrete, unconscious. She stepped over him, hair trailing behind her as she danced around a flurry of jabs and kicks from the next one, this one was agile however, and just before Asami flung out her gloved palm to administer a zap the blocker whipped a foot into her side, Asami nearly doubled over, but she gritted her teeth and side stepped again, faster than the woman's eyes could track.

Another spark, another whump. And another thud. "Duck!', she followed Bolin's word, dropping to the ground as a chunk of earth flew over her, slamming into the chest of a not-fast-enough chi blocker. He grunted and managed to stay standing, not noticing that he was stepping over her to get to the boy who threw that rock. Bolin stepped backwards, throwing up his arms against each other in anticipation for the blows that would rain down, instead a unexpected wire with weights on each end wrapped around his wrists, forcing them together.

He yelped as the weight spun him into the wall nearby, and his eyes widened as his foot slipped on a wet patch on the stones, his nose met the hard stone first, and his eyes watered and stars danced in them as he heard a loud crack, and felt warm blood seep from somewhere on his face. The blocker advanced, his motions lazy as he thought that Bolin was downed for the count. Bolin proved him wrong by slamming a palm onto the stone, the tunnel rumbled before he focused his gaze on a spot between the blockers legs.

The blocker hesitated as he realised what Bolin was doing, and all of a sudden his body language screamed uncertainty and fear. A block of stone rose up and slammed into the man's groin, and Bolin swore he could see the eyes behind those lenses boggle at the sudden shutdown of everything. The man twisted over and fell to the ground with a squeak, and he sighed with relief.

All of the blockers around Asami and Bolin had dispersed now, trying to advance down the tunnel, unfortunately for them, a boy with a snarl on his features, and fire in his golden eyes was standing in their way. Next to him, was another, who leveled his sword at the lot of them. Without any kind of coordination between the two clashing boys they both ran towards them at the same time, quite possibly being motivated by the same basic reason. Mako growled as fire sprang from his fists, the move was sloppily executed and motivated more by anger than focus, and he found that as he kicked, swept, and threw arcs, streams and balls of flame at the tightly clumped group of eight equalists, they _flowed_ around his projectiles like water, easily bypassing them and preparing to overwhelm him with numbers.

He ducked as a black boot lashed out at his face, as he dropped to the floor his own leg shot out and swept the offender's legs out from under him, as the man found himself falling towards the stone floor he was suddenly stopped and whirled towards the wall, slamming into it painfully, and sliding down to the floor with a pained sob, and a surprised expression behind the cracked lenses.

Another foot, and again Mako ducked under it, his opponent quickly slipped around his side, his jabs like needles in his side. Mako grunted and, angry, he flung a palm towards the offender, aiming to burn the man's mask off. His own nerves burned instead and he gasped as his eyes watered from the intense pain.

He felt a swift kick to his stomach, and the air rushed out of him as he rolled into the small dip that cut through the center of the tunnel. His attacker stepped down after him, swinging a bola in one hand as he raised his foot to stamp the boys lights out. He caught a glimpse of raven hair dancing in the dim light, and the beautiful, elegant face framed by those locks. Asami clamped her gauntlet-clad hand on the man's shoulder, causing him to spasm and cry out as electricity danced in his system. He crumpled to the floor with a sigh, and Asami had a mix of pity and amusement in her green eyes as she bent down to help him up.

"Be careful Mako." she warned. Mako rubbed his head and shot a dark look up at her, but she dismissed with a smirk. He stuck out his hand, and she grunted a little as she pulled him onto his two feet. He shook his hand experimentally and held it out in front of him, he closed his eyes for a moment, and let a rush of warmth surge down his arm and into his hand. He took a deep breath and the heat in his hand bloomed into fire. He nodded at Asami, and they faced towards the four equalists running towards them.

He noticed a loose pipe nearby, due to the water trickling out of it, he directed a stream of flame at the liquid, burning it up and causing a pall of steam to waft in front of them, he leapt through the steam, his hand wreathed in fire as he rushed towards a surprised blocker. He stopped just short of actually hitting the man with the fire, and held it a few inches from his chest. Before the man could react, the fire around his hand rushed along his fingertips and bloomed, sending the man tumbling down the tunnel into darkness. He ducked as he heard a whistling noise coming from behind, and was about to do the same again when he heard a crackle and whump.

The man sighed as he fell forwards, smoke rising from his back as Asami showed herself. They saw another equalist slam into the wall nearby, with Tai stepping forwards into the dim light, a ball of dense air dissipating from his hand. He nodded at the two of them. The sound of running feet made them turn their heads to see the last one standing running further down the tunnel, in the direction Korra had disappeared in.

They all were about to step forward to begin a chase when more grates shuddered overhead, being pulled from their beds, more boots dropped downwards, leaving Tai standing on the wrong side of a group of five more equalists, separated from Asami, Mako, and Bolin.

He stepped forward the fight his way through them when the sound of another grate being ripped up, this time further into the pitch black behind him. Boots dropped down, and immediately he saw wisps and gouts of flame being fired. He turned to the group of equalists who were advancing towards Mako and Asami, and he took his sword out. As they leapt to attack, he sent a sweep of air towards their backs, bowling them all over. Giving the two of them a quick nod he turned and sprinted down the tunnel, closer and closer towards the streams and gouts of flame.

A ball of flame flew past his head, warming his cheek to an unbearable height for a second before landing somewhere behind him. Naga roared and swiped at one of them, catching the man in the stomach and sending him into the wall nearby, concussing the blocker. Korra vaulted over her, her foot stuck out as fired streamed out from it towards an unlucky equalist. The scream was feminine as it slammed her into the wall next to her unconscious comrade, leaving her to crumple on top of him.

Naga roared in surprise as bolas began to wrap themselves around her paws, she snapped at one of the blockers in front of her before falling onto her side, kicking and thrashing uselessly as she tried to get free from the constricting wires. Korra whipped her head around, and ran to her when a body crashed into her, and she was sent tumbling to the ground, pinned by a large blocker, she swung her fist towards the mask when as quick as snake, it was stopped by a larger hand, which enclosed around hers and began to squeeze, she cried out as she struggled to get out from under her larger opponent, for her efforts the man laughed, actually _laughed_, and flipped her over, so now her belly was pinned towards the ground, instinctively that made her struggle even harder, but all it did was make the man grab her ponytail and wrench back on it, pulling painfully.

A bola wrapped around the naked blade of his sword, dragging it down a little. He growled and pulled the man towards him using a gust of wind. He extended his arm and moved to the side, letting him crash into it and flip into the ground. With that blocker down, only two stood between him and Korra. They ran at him together, the one on the left stopped and threw two electrified bolas at him, he was used to their tricks, and he swung his sword at one, slicing it down the middle. He twisted out of the way of the other, flinging out a hand to blast a large gale at the thrower, it punched him into a wall, and he slid down it, knocked out. He was interrupted when he felt a line of fire flare up his side, and he realized he had focused on the wrong one.

He whipped a hand at the equalist, quickly curling it into a fist as he went for the mask. He heard the rasp of steel sliding out of leather, and he danced backwards, suddenly very wary of his opponent. A flash of steel rushed slashed towards him, and he quickly met it with his own, to his dismay the wielder easily broke off and managed to sneak it around his longer sword, and it barely missed biting into his wrist as he shifted to the right. He had to end it quickly. Tai lashed a boot out at the blocker, only to be wrenched to the side by his opponent, who jabbed forwards with the needle of steel.

Tai flicked a small gust of wind at the blade slashing toward his chest, managing to deflect it a little, the curved tip snagged on his coat's shoulder seam, tearing a little hole in it as the equalist quickly wrenched it back from Tai. He yelped and ducked under a cruel slash, stepping back a step. He yelped again when his heel found nothing but air, and the front part of his boot slipped on a patch of wet stone. He tipped backwards while he flailed his arms, trying to focus enough to blast a gust of wind at the curved stone behind him. A hand grabbed his collar roughly, and he was wrenched forwards, before being spun around and slammed facefirst into the curved stone. His sword was torn away from his grasp by a gloved hand, and it clattered to a halt somewhere down the tunnel, half covered in darkness now.

He swallowed as a curved tip bit into his neck, and he didn't move a muscle. He breathed heavily as he noticed a few obscure details on the equalist who had him at their mercy. Their outfit was of a lighter design than the norm, with the only thick material being on the tight fitting clothing around their chest. It was then that he noticed a prominent pair of...he reddened.

He quickly looked away, the sword bit in a little deeper and he grunted a little. The girl's arms were completely covered in some kind of skin tight material, and accidentally his mind turned to extremely immodest thinking. Those thoughts disappeared when he saw a pair of light gray eyes looking down at him. Recognition began to dawn. He knew her from somewhere...

The girl whipped her head up, and dropped him roughly, sheathing the small sword in a holster on the back of her hips as she ran down the tunnel, as fast as the wind.

He took a few deep breaths, rubbing his throat as he heard a deep voice cry unnaturally high behind him. He turned around, seeing the large man clutching his crotch, deeply in pain. Korra stood above him, and stared at him with narrowed eyes, before lashing a kick at his face, he sighed as the black grabbed him.

* * *

Asami grabbed Mako by the scruff, spinning around him to deliver a scathing kick to a blocker's exposed side. The man grunted behind his mask, and tried to grab her foot. She whipped it back and kicked him again, this time in the other side. He grunted again, this time with a little more pain evident. A frown flashed across her beautiful features for a second, before she spun around again, preparing to lash another kick at him. Mako grabbed her shoulder, "Duck!" he shouted, they both crashed to the floor as several electrified bolas whipped over them, the equalist growled as he kicked at Asami, Mako's eyes flashed dangerously and he covered his hand in fire, jabbing it into the man's chest. He cried out as he went flying back, slamming face down on the floor with a small crunch.

He glanced at Asami, preparing to say something witty, when she dragged him down towards her with a snarl, making him yelp instead. He realized why when she flung her gauntlet-clad hand upwards. A spark later and another equalist was lying on the ground, twitching a bit as he coughed and sputtered behind the mask.

She gave him a wry look, and he rolled his eyes. He heard a whistling noise, and grabbed her shoulders, rolling them out of the way of another group of electrified bolas. Before they had time to recover, another group was on it's way towards them, about to wrap around them and make life very sore for them.

A wall of rock rose up in front of them, and the bolas shattered as they met the tough stone block. The three pairs of lenses they could barely discern in the darkness turned as one, and promptly yelped as a massive object slammed the three of them into a wall nearby. Bolin ran towards the two of them, with Pabu hanging onto his shoulder for dear life, squeaking as each movement the boy made threatened to dislodge him.

"Gotta' go guys!" he ran past them, heading towards the other three members of their group. Mako and Asami stared into each others eyes for a moment, like they had noticed each other for the first time all over again.

He saw her cheeks tinge as she stood up and ran after Bolin, 'accidentally' stepping on his shoulder in the process. He blinked twice in confusion, not even realizing his shoulder had a boot mark on it as he took off after the two of them. He heard a yelp from his brother as a stream of fire nearly hit him, luckily Bolin had gotten pretty good at dodging, and he was unscathed as he slowed down a bit, getting cautious as the blackness grew, Asami did the same, allowing Mako to quickly catch up to the two of them.

The sounds of fighting made him want to hurry up, but the logical part of him made him advance carefully, even though all he wanted was to charge in and give Korra a hand. Right now he couldn't care less about Tai. A cloud of white gas floated towards them out of the black, quickly enveloping them as they began to cough and sputter. He stumbled when it hit him too, and he gritted his teeth as he soldiered through the thick white gas, intent only on reaching Korra. A sudden impact against his shoulder spun him, and he nearly lost his balance. He growled and continued to stumble deeper into the cloud, not caring that his lungs began to burn, and his eyes began to moisten. He wiped them with his palm, and quickly found that only made it worse. He had no idea where Bolin and Asami were.

The sound of more grates being ripped open behind him only served to make him move forwards at a faster pace, not caring that many pairs of boots had dropped into the tunnel. His foot ran into something thick and large, and he nearly fell again. All it did was make him madder.

He coughed and sputtered again in another fit, having to stop for a moment. He heard whistling noises cut through the gas behind him, and he clumsily tried to twist out of the way, his eyes widened for an instance as he noticed two quivering bolts sticking out of the curved wall nearby. He coughed again and fell forwards. Everything began to hurt, but he dug his fingers into a crack in the stone, and pulled himself forwards, resolving to get to her. He noticed that the air around him cleared a little, and the fire in his lungs died down a little, a black coated figure grabbed him, taking his weight and getting him out of the stun gas.

Another coughing fit, as he felt Tai tighten his hold around his chest, supporting him as he was helped down the tunnel. He didn't complain, he _wanted to_, but he knew that right now wasn't the best time to try and fix his damaged pride.

Instead, as his coughing fit stopped for a few seconds, he glanced up at Tai's determined face. "Thank you."

Tai nodded, and soon they found the rest of them waiting on Naga's back. Mako didn't complain as Korra's hand grabbed him, pulling him onto Naga's saddle. The polar-bear dog turned her head to sniff at him.

Immediately Asami looked at him with a face of worry. "Are you-"

He did the stupid thing and lied. "I'm fin-" he went into a coughing fit, worrying her even more. He swallowed, even something that minor becoming a difficult thing to do. He shook his head. "Sorry."

She cupped his chin. "Don't worry about it."

In front of them Korra took up Naga's reigns, and glanced at Tai with a question, curious as to why he was staring up at the grates leading to the surface just above. She narrowed her eyes. "Don't even think about it!"

He glanced at her as he untied the pole from his back. "Have to. The only way I can stop them from following."

Bolin noticed what he was doing. "Not anything reckless right?"

Tai smirked. "Yeah, right up my alley."

Korra sighed and pinched her nose. "Just be careful," her eyes softened for a moment. "_, okay_?"

He nodded. "I'll be fine.", he smiled reassuringly.

He stepped away from them to get some extra space, and shook the pole. The ribs extended to their full length, stretching the folds of material with them. He gave them all a curt nod, not wanting to drag this out, fearing he may give in and ask to go with them.

Voices muffled by the cloud obscuring them began to draw closer, and he noticed dull flashes of green inside the white confines. Bolin gave him a quick salute, making him smirk little, and giving him even more difficulty to actually follow his stupid decision. He froze as he saw Mako nod, for the first time ever looking at him without a kind of sneer or sigh.

He swallowed and looked up at the grates above, wincing inside as he heard more track pairs approach above, and the sound of many pairs of boots pounding towards the grates. Flashes of that white masked man and his hooded apprentice were now joined by the vivid grey eyes of that girl from before. He had an idea about who she was.

He flashed a easy smile at them all. "See ya." and summoned a ball of compressed air in his palm. He leapt upwards, slamming it into the grate, the flimsy metal easily gave way, and he disappeared up into the chaotic streets above them.

Korra sighed and looked ahead. "Let's go girl." she tore her gaze away from the grates, looking ahead with her eyes narrowed. Naga tilted her head at her old friend's tone, before taking off down the tunnel, her heavy footfalls echoing slightly, as she rounded a corner, and she and the gang on her back left the tunnel and tear gas behind. As they rounded the corner into a new completely identical tunnel, Bolin twisted and raised his arms up, the earth the tunnel was packed in shuddered, and he focused on the entrance to their tunnel. The metal buckled and squealed, and piles of brick and stone chunks tumbled down, making a massive din as they plugged any access from the drainage tunnel.

With a sad look on him he turned back around, sighing as Naga bounded down the tunnel. Where? None of them quite knew where.

* * *

The grate blasted open from a powerful force, lifted high into the sky from the impact. Equalists turned towards the disturbance, and blockers formed a staggered line between the mechas and the interruption, protecting them while they winched wounded and unconscious out of that tunnel.

Some of the gas spilled out of the few intact grates, gathering in small wisps at their feet. The equalists weren't affected by this, their masks and respirators more than enough to stop it from affecting them. Cracks ran outwards from spot the grate was, and a few of them walked forwards, cautiously investigating what in the hole. The air around the spot began to whip around and move abnormally fast, a black blur speared it's way skywards, clearing the hole and the street, knocking the two equalists to the ground. A few of the mecha tanks reclaimed their winches, and the drivers guided them closer to where the disturbance was. The blur hung in the sky for a moment, a flash of steel visible on it's left side.

The equalists shouted warnings as a few of them began throwing bolas towards him. A push of air carried him out of their reach for a moment, and he focused on a mecha tank that had split off from the others. Easy pickings.

Tai whirled the air around him, and he sped towards the tank like a missile, the glider's wings refolded, fitting back into the shaft, he quickly placed it on his back. Immediately a tangle of claw cables were shot at him, trying to knock him out of the sky, but they were too slow, falling short as he sped past them, cutting a few of them with his sword along the way.

The unlucky tank lurched to life as it's tracks worked to move it out of the way. Tai held a ball of air in his right hand, super dense and pressurized as he slammed it into the machine's shoulder. The flimsy platinum sheathing squealed and buckled as the mass of tightly compacted air ripped off the metal, smoke and sparks rose from the devastate shoulder as the entire arm groaned and fell away, slamming into the ground with a thud.

He waved his hand, and a rush of wind blasted into his chest, slowing him down enough to land safely on the footpath nearby. He twisted out of the way of another claw, using a push of air to slide a few meters away from it. He ran towards it's exposed wire, slashing towards it with his sword.

The blade neatly cut through the cable, leaving a sparking and frayed jumble of wires behind. The mecha tank it belonged to rushed him, the tracks spinning furiously as it swung a claw down at him, it missed, cracking the pavement instead. The tip of his blade bit into a point on the soft platinum, and it quivered slightly as the driver began to swing the arm around, trying to shake him off. He held on for dear life, hanging from it with one hand free, he was directly in front of a side porthole looking into the driver's compartment. The man, a very large moustache on his lip and a dirty brown beret on his head, narrowed his eyes at Tai.

The boy fired a blast of wind at the window, only managing to crack it a little, the reinforced bars over the porthole stopped him from doing much damage to it. The machines arm flailed again, and Tai gasped as his grip nearly slipped from the leather handle of his sword. He swung back and forth like a pendulum, gathering a ball of dense air in his palm.

Five seconds later he slammed it against the chest armor of the tank, and once again, the metal buckled and squealed as the tiny maelstrom quickly billowed into a larger one, all directed into the machines innards.

The gale force winds forced their ways through the windows, shattering them and tossing the driver about in the cabin, his head whacked into a overhead pipe and he slumped on the chair, unconscious.

He sprang away from the downed machine, landing on the ground in front of it as a large group of equalists, at least twenty or so, ran at him, now intent at containing him with any means possible.

The expected swarm of spinning bolas didn't come, instead a flurry of grenades bounced towards him along the ground, rolling to a stop at his feet. He gulped, before windmilling his arms, spinning the air around him into a very sloppy sphere. The grenades detonated, unleashing green and white smoke on him, the boy was quickly enveloped by the combined cloud, and the equalists advanced in teams of five, leapfrogging each other as they cautiously approached.

The gas parted as he ran forward, bowling three of them over with a blast to their chests. His scabbard was in hand as he whipped his arm out, slamming it across an unfortunate blocker's back and sending him sprawling to the ground. A foot kicked at him from behind, and he twisted over it, sweeping his own and flipping the blocker over painfully.

Several somethings went off at once, and instantly he was blinded by a massive white flash close by. His heart sounded like it was beating in his eyes as everything began to go upside down.

He soldiered through it, shaking away the white flashes in his vision as he noticed a group of black canisters hidden amongst empty silver ones. Flash bangs. He growled and ran forward, flinging his arms out and sending a massive wall of rushing air forwards, knocking quite a few of them away and into the walls of apartments nearby. A massive weight slammed into the back of his shoulder, spinning him around and off balance. He turned his head slightly, seeing an advancing mecha tank moving closer to him from behind.

His shoulder ached terribly where it hit him, and his breathing became ragged as he straightened and advanced towards the group of blockers in front of him. He growled as a electrified bola wrapped around his left arm, and he gritted his teeth as the charge it delivered forced him to the ground. His heart sounded in his ears again, and his vision dimmed as more and more bolas wrapped around his other limbs, delivering the same shock. Each time they felled him, and each time he got back up, more or less running on fumes by now.

As he raised his sword to swing a slice of wind at the lot of them, the group parted for the grey eyed girl from before as she calmly walked towards him. He raised his sword and slashed it towards her with the speed and power of a snail, and she easily stepped around it, delivering a punch to his side to down him, and a boot to the face to knock him out.

He hoped they got away in time.

* * *

A bump roused him, and as he realized his hands were bound behind his back and his feet were tied together, a boot crashed into his shoulder, and he grunted as his face met the metal flooring of the dark space. He heard someone moving behind him, and stopped wriggling around, he noticed buildings moving past through the small window nearby, and he glumly came to the conclusion that they had stuffed him into the back of a van. Another bump, and his cheek ached as his head was forced up than down by the sudden movement. He groaned when he saw his sword lying the lap of a equalist, who busy looking and messing around with it.

He finally looked up, blinking a little as a swinging light overhead blinded him for a bit. He noticed the girl from before sitting on the end of a bench set into the wall, staring at him the same way someone would regard a sack of flour. Nothing.

He felt insulted, and his big mouth opened. "Comfortabl-" the boot slammed into his back again, and he hissed as this time the unknown heel dug in a little deeper.

A voice whispered into his ear, with an unimaginable level of mockery present. "Amon's gonna love seeing you getting dragged through his airship. _B__oy_." it hissed.

Tai didn't fight the sudden urge to chuckle. "Feeling's _mutual_."

He heard the rustling of fabric behind him as someone lifted their foot to kick him again, when the girl sitting on the bench made a cut-it-out motion with her hand, while looking straight at him. He heard a sound of disappointment come from the cruel voice.

She stood up and walked towards him, placing a hand on her hip. "Quite a bit of luck you had down there. Those were recruits.", Tai straightened, managing to get up from his awkward position.

The boy chuckled and stared straight up at her, unflinching. "What a shame.", she scowled and placed a boot on his shoulder, tipping him backwards. She nodded at the unseen man behind him, he grinned and shoved a boot in Tai's side again, the boy rolled over and screwd his eyes shut as he gasped again. They shot open as he took a deep breath, and looked up at the two of them. "Get on with it, I can't wait to meet _him_."

Another kick, another rush of air escaped from his lungs. He coughed and sputtered, still managing to keep a glare on the two of them, particularly at the grey eyed girl. "You know if this was a different situation, I might have asked you ou-" this time she kicked him, hard and in the stomach. He coughed again and gritted his teeth, not wanting to scream, to give any of them any satisfaction.

He clamped down on the sarcasm and snark, and fixed her with a wry look. "You have grey eyes. Where are you from?"

She moved her foot forward before stopping, hesitancy visible behind the face mask in those vivid eyes. The unseen man noticed this. "Yem? What's wrong-"

Yem regarded him with a cold stare that could freeze steel. "Nothing." she turned her back on the two of them, grabbing the sword from the curious hands of the other equalist. Her gloved fingers closed around the black grip, and she pulled it free, the steel making a ringing noise as it left the leather behind. She turned it over, examining the way the light from overhead reflected off of it, she focused particularly on the column of letters engraved down one side of it.

She whipped to look at him with a growl, a question on her tongue when the whole vehicle shuddered terribly as something massive slammed into it's flank. His whole boxed in world flipped over and over, he heard a grunt behind him as someone crashed into the back doors, which judging by that swinging sound and the rush of wind and the sound of laughter coming had just been knocked open.

Tai slammed into the wall nearby with, enough force behind his mometum to dent the reinforced metal. The smell of smoke reached his nostrils, he looked around in a daze, spotting his scabbard and sword nearby. He took them, and ran outside to get away from the smoke.

A rock flew at his face, and he quickly stepped around it, turning to see a large group of brown and green garbed triad members. At their head was a giant of a man, his boulders-for-biceps helping to quickly identify who he is.

Quan barked with laughter as he pointed at the wrecked truck, his men moving forwards at the gesture. The big guy hadn't seen him yet. Tai saw a massive expanse of greenery stretching into the distance behind him, only separated by a small line of fencing. He could do it, he could just run now, disappear into the park and meet up with his friends.

He found himself looking at the crashed truck nearby, and he swore under his breath as he ran towards the line of earth benders, using the smoke to get closer. They began ripping chunks of concrete and dirt out of the street, throwing them en masse at the downed vehicle. It shuddered with every hit, and it's surface dented with each rock thrown.

Tai gripped his sword and ran free of the smoke, punching on of the earth benders on the jaw as he passed him, the obese gang member cried out and fell onto the ground, out cold already. He shook his hand as his knuckles protested, blowing on them as he flung his other hand forwards, loosing a massive blast of wind that surged towards the line of thugs, catching them off guard. The ones closest to him were flung of their feet and crashed onto the pavement nearby, with one of them unlucky enough to find a glass window instead, disappearing inside with a crash and scattering of shards.

Quan noticed him there, and he growled, lumbering forward as he slammed his meaty palms together and thrust them groundward. The ground between them shuddered and split open in a jagged wound, with the fissure rushing towards Tai. He twisted to the side and loosed blast of air at the advancing giant, who promptly laughed it off as he drew closer and closer, not even being slowed.

The giant roared as he swung a huge tree trunk of a arm at Tai, who quickly dived underneath it, blasting a wave of wind into Quan's side. No effect as his other arm came around and slammed into Tai's shoulder, who was seeing stars as he was sent flying back into the truck, slamming into the metal painfully.

The mountain of meat lumbered towards him, not caring for the smoke between him and the stunned boy. Just as he was about to be crushed to a pulp against the truck's side, he flung a hand out to the side, blasting a jet of wind strong enough to carry him in the opposite direction. He landed roughly, before he quickly recovered. The quaker roared as he realized that the boy was gone from his sight, he swore many times as the smoke stopped him from seeing where Tai was.

The boy flung the doors open, seeing only the unconscious girl lying there, a gash visible on her forehead. Her breaths were short and ragged. And getting shorter.

Tai dragged her out of the smoky mess, seeing that she was the only one left in there. With no time or inclination to look for the unseen man, he slung her over his shoulder, and carried her towards the parklands nearby.

* * *

His feet began to drag more and more. The sun had well and truly gone down behind the horizon now, and the trees and greenery were getting increasingly dark and unseeable. Lights mounted on thick posts began to wink on along the path behind and in front of him. He noticed a bridge up ahead, and made for it, his breath becoming more and more labored. He stopped for a moment, shifting her onto his other shoulder, sighing a little as the pressure lightened instantly.

He went over the bridge carefully, so that he wouldn't trip and fall on the curved wooden boards. The path levelled out as he left the bridge, seeing that he was standing on a small dark strip of land that had another bridge on the path ahead.

He thought that here was a good spot to rest for a bit. He walked forwards towards the bank, carefully setting her down nearby. He was about to sit down when he noticed a strange glimmer in a bush nearby.

Dead tired and about ready to collapse, he determined that the bush was as good a place as any, and moved towards it. It rustled, and he heard a soft whisper come from inside it, more accurately underneath it.

He froze as he thought about unsheathing his sword for a moment, before deciding that his bending would be enough. A red mass of fur exploded out of the bush towards him, squeaking and chattering as it ran up his shoulder, greeting him with a wet lick. "Pabu." he whispered. He looked around, expecting to see Bolin walking towards him with a wide and happy grin. Nothing. No movement at all. He frowned as he bent down to examine the bush, brushing the leaves aside to see a iron ring looking at him, affixed to a wooden door, faded with age.

It shuddered and shook as something pushed it open from the other side, he was greeted with a wide yellow toothed grin, and some slightly manic looking eyes. "Well how do ya' do? Names Gommu and this be mah' bush!"

Tai stood there, momentarily paralysed as his mind tried and failed to comprehend what was happening. He stared at the hobo's grubby hand for a moment, before shaking it uncertainly. "It's a...pretty bush." he haltingly said, completely unsure of what to make of this guy.

Gommu looked past him and noticed the unconscious girl. He nodded and looked up at Tai. "Come on. Let's get her inside."


	25. The Questions, and The Hideaway

潮

* * *

Bolin was exhausted. He yawned, long and loudly, as he folded his arms behind his head, using them as extra lift as he laid down on the cardboard mat. They were all gathered around that little fire, warming themselves in the dim glow as much as was possible. The smoke from theirs joined others, all rising towards the large gap in the roof high above them, through which the stars were visible, and periodic screams of fighting could be heard.

Everyone shivered when they heard those screams. Korra drew her knees up close, hugging them as she pointed her hand at the fire, and made it dance and wave, unsure of what else to do while the four of them waited. She was sullen, and didn't put much effort into it. Behind her Naga yawned and shuffled closer to her, so that her old friend could lean back on her side.

Korra smiled and drew her hand back, scratching Naga under the chin, causing her to croon a little. She stopped after a bit, and sighed, staring at the fire as if it held all the answers. It couldn't, it was just a tiny wisp of flame.

Asami sat on a rickety wooden box next to her, her arms folded and pressed close to her chest. She stared at that fire as well, for the very same reasons. She looked up, accidentally catching the eye of Mako, her – well. She didn't know exactly what he was right now, in this confusing time.

For his part, Mako looked away from her sight, not wanting to see those pale green eyes he fell for as soon as he saw them. He stared at the dirty ground between his feet, fine with not saying anything whatsoever. Except that made his mind go into overdrive, and that made him play through images of the tunnel fight. Of knocking one of them unconscious with a well-timed fire ball, of getting another with a lucky elbow to the face, after he had ducked under one of those electrified bolas. Of being side by side with Asami, where they both worked in perfect harmony to protect one another from harm.

He sighed as he glanced at her, not shirking away when she looked back. A corner of his mouth lifted slightly, a lopsided smile which Asami noticed and reciprocated. She quickly looked away however, and he went back to examining the dirt encrusted metal plating between his feet.

One more image came up. Of the person he hated guiding him down the tunnel, of being placed onto Naga's back. He couldn't help being surprised at why he did it. Only minutes before they were at each other's throats, and had been fighting almost constantly every time they saw one another. He shook his head at his own thoughts, and continued to stare between his feet.

Their little group was quieter than the other fires spread around the place, some filled with voices and laughter, intermixed with some that held crying and mumbled words of comfort.

One voice rose up amongst their little circle however. "Where's Pabu?"

* * *

Drip. Drip. Squelch.

Tai swore under his breath as his left boot sunk into something most spongy and, as he glanced at it, kept down his meager lunch of berries and shifted the unconscious girl onto his other shoulder, glumly noting that both of his shoulders felt the exact same way. Ahead Gommu stopped for a moment, holding his lantern up to cast the light towards the burdened boy. He cupped his hand. "Not far now! Your friends are waiting for ya'!"

The boy nodded, dragging the sole of his left boot along the slick stones in the cramped tunnel to scrape off the waste. He shuddered as he thought of what was mixed inside it. Gommu hopped from foot to foot as Tai moved past him, before following at a slower pace. He scratched his beard, looking like he was trying to call up a foggy memory. He waved it away, at the movement Pabu lifted his head and ran across his arm, hopping onto Tai's shoulder. He stretched across, sniffing the girl to deem if she was a threat or not.

He squeaked happily and clambered across the back of his neck and up her side. She stirred a little as he curled up on her warm back, chattering away the whole time.

As they continued down the dank tunnel, he glanced at Gommu. "Why help me?" he asked, genuinely curious.

Gommu grinned toothily. "Why not? Everyone should help one another when they can." he looked at the arched eyebrow Tai had on. He explained. "It don't matter to me what someone can or can't do, all I care about is making sure they have a place to sleep and food in their stomachs." he leaned in a little closer. "You gotta' stick together out on the streets." the lantern sputtered and Gommu quickly slapped it a few times, the force making the light shine nice and bright again.

The boy was silent for a moment. "You're homeless?" underneath the girl's small and petite form he rolled his shoulder a little, hoping to shake away the aching sensation mounting on it.

The man's scraggly beard shook as he chuckled again. "I ain't homeless. We're headed to mah home away from home right now!"

Tai mulled over what he meant by that. "That bush is another home of yours?" he swore a little as his foot snagged on a loose brick, making him stumble forwards for a few heart-wrenching moments, before managing to right himself.

Gommu gave him a thumbs up. "Coorrect!" he stopped for a moment, sniffing at something, which Tai desperately hoped wasn't more filth. The old hobo's eyes lit up and he rubbed his hands together, grinning at the boy. "We're getting closer, won't be long now!"

Tai nodded wearily, feeling his eyes droop at the thought of somewhere to just lie down and _sleep_. He blinked twice and shook his head to keep awake and moving, he looked at the girl on his shoulder, turning his thoughts to figuring where he had seen her before, mostly to stave off sleep.

His eyes focused as he remembered the town of White Falls. He'd stopped there for food and supplies, working for a month or two to get the money to do so. It wasn't a strange thing, many people, a lot of them his age, did the same thing, and it happened often enough that every shop or bar in the town had signs up offering temporary jobs for travelers. He recalled a image of him ducking under the drunken arm of some earth bending idiot from the capital, wildly proclaiming that he would be the one to claim the bounty on something called a Dust Devil.

He was about to punch the man in the face when he was grabbed from behind, and led away through a back door. He never saw who captured him that night. Whoever they were sounded haughty and very obnoxious, more than likely drunk young men trying to earn a quick one by selling him off to some slaver band for hard labor. He spent the night sleeping in some dirty closet that was barely big enough for a broom, a bag over his head the entire time. And his sword and coat had been taken.

It was the next morning, when he heard curses and yells coming from outside the door, that he encountered a girl, holding both his long coat and sword. She threw them to the floor in front of him, along with a bag of yuans and a message tied to his scabbard. The thing most noticeable about her were those grey eyes. The next morning he set off for Republic City, having finally caught up to his target at last.

He shook the thoughts away as the sounds of laughter and talking bounced towards them from the darkness ahead. Gommu grinned and beckoned for him to follow, moving faster with each step. Tai did his best to keep up with the surprisingly energetic old man, but found himself slipping behind, and soon he was out of breath, and had to stop for a moment.

Gommu saw this and grimaced, moving back to lend him a hand. He ducked around the boy's side, looping both arms around his chest to help him move. Tai swayed unsteadily as he was guided forward. Complaining about the help didn't even appear in his thoughts.

The tunnel sloped downwards as they slowly moved forwards, Gommu grinned at him. "Ya' alright?" he said as he noticed the cuts on the boy's cheek, and how he winced every time Gommu brushed against his side.

"Yeah. Fine." he lied, seeing a split in the tunnel ahead, and saw a dull orange bloom in the darkness ahead. Gommu brightened up as he saw it as well. "That's the place!"

When they came to the split Tai stopped again, bracing himself against the wall for a moment as he shifted the girl again. Pabu squeaked and poked his head up at the disturbance. Tai glanced at Gommu. "What's down there?" he asked, pointing down the side tunnel.

Gommu frowned and shrugged. "Just a dead end and a empty room."

Tai nodded slowly. "Can you tell Korra that I'll be in there." he had a tired grin on him as he walked down the tunnel, dragging his feet as he approached the door to a tiny and empty room. A single old and broken chair sat in the center. Tai noticed Pabu was looking up at him, he sighed and petted the ferret before picking him up by the scruff on his neck and setting him down, pointing to Gommu.

Pabu squeaked, and it sounded like he was complaining. But before Tai could know for sure the little ferret turned and ran to Gommu, who picked him up. The old hobo called after him. "What're ya doing kid?"

He glanced over his shoulder. "I need some answers." he paused. "Tell them I have an equalist hostage." he said, before disappearing into the dark little room.

Gommu looked down at Pabu, who looked back up with that deep thoughtful knowledge only the wise Fire Ferret seemed to possess. Gommu nodded and walked through the smoke, which glowed a dull orange due to the numerous fires burning in the massive space ahead. As he walked through the opening, people noticed him, calling out greetings or offering him a seat by their side. He laughed and shook his head good naturedly, not wanting to take up space that someone more in need would require. He wasn't important enough for that.

He came to the center of the room, directly beneath the massive opening in the roof that gave ventilation and a avenue for the smoke to drift out of. When he and a few others first settled here, some of them expressed worry and trepidation, mainly at the fact that the room was designed to hold and collect large amounts of water, and any of the circular gates mounted in the walls could release gushing torrents on their heads at any moment.

Luckily he knew the city's chief engineer, who told him that this particular storage room had been unaccessible and cut off from the water network for years beforehand. Instead it rushed down a nearby tunnel that cut alongside the room, through which it was a simple short walk to get to from here.

That took care of any water problems they had.

He stood underneath the shadow of a large ramshackle tower, it's roof covered by orange and blue canvas that stretched across them, with others of different colors connecting to them from other ramshackle buildings.

He found the new arrivals sitting around a little fire nearby, all of them looking sullen and depressed. Bolin brightened as he spotted the old hobo walking towards them, that good natured grin still on. Pabu tilted his head and wagged his tail, giving Gommu a lick before running down his front and making a beeline for his partner-in-crime's waiting outstretched arms.

The little ferret nearly made Bolin fall backwards as he leapt into his arms, licking the earth bending boy's chin several times to say hello. Bolin managed to hold Pabu out in front of him, and gave him a stern look. "Don't do that ever again buddy!" he grinned held him close, with Pabu settling on top of his head, the warmest part of Bolin he knew.

Gommu grinned toothily when Bolin looked up at him. "How'd you find him? he asked, while giving his best friend a luxurious scratch under the chin.

"I was headin' out to rummage for food'n'stuff and I saw him squeakin' and pawin' at the door that opened beneath my beauteous bush. So I opened it for him and he ran out, and guess what?" he looked at everyone and beamed. "You're friend is waiting just in the tunnel!"

Korra stood up. "Wait why?", she said as Gommu looked at the floor beneath his torn up shoes. "He uh... found someone who'd been knocked out cold on the street. Don't know who she is. He asked for you though, lady avatar." she nodded and walked past him, without turning she addressed everyone. "I'll be back."

Mako went to stand, to...he wasn't sure what, but she was already gone.

* * *

Tai leaned against the dampened stone of the little room's walls, folding his arms together for appearance purposes once the girl woke. In reality, every part of him ached, fatigue crept up all over his body, and his thoughts were clouded and muggy, one good punch would probably knock him out cold right now. He probably wouldn't have minded, it would give him an excuse to sleep. He saw the girls fingers twitch and her eyes began to flutter open and stepped off the wall, letting his right foot take most of his weight. To keep up appearance.

She didn't make a sound as she whipped her head to the left and right, before settling on him, her grey eyes narrowed as she regarded him, still not uttering a word.

He took the scabbard off of his back, curling his fingers around the black hilt of his sword and pulling it free. He looked at her. "You've seen my sword before. Where?" he asked, moving in a little closer, slapping his palm with the blade's flat, making a tapping noise that dominated the empty room.

Her eyes softened as they flitted towards the bright silver-colored metal, seemingly reading the shallow inclines that cut up the middle of the blade. They hardened as she looked at him, distrust evident. "Why did you drag me out of there?" she growled.

He stopped playing with the blade, sliding it back into the scabbard. "That van was filled with smoke, your lungs should be filled to bursting with it, so why _aren't you coughing__?_" he questioned. She curled her lip as she continued to stare at him with a curious mixture of contempt and knowing. He kept talking. "There are only five people in the world who can do that. One of them's standing right here."

She looked away, staring at a spot on the cracked floor. She stayed silent, much to his chagrin.

He stepped forwards. "I don't have time for thi- were you at White Fal-" he was cut off as she began to cough and sputter, and gasped as her breathing became labored and ragged, she paled as her eyes widened. He moved forward immediately, opening his mouth to use a simple technique that would save her. Great dark coils of smoke rushed up her throat and out of her mouth as she continued to cough and sputter. It found it's way into Tai, disappearing down his throat in turn. He stepped back for a moment and closed his eyes, breathing deep and frantically as he forced the smoke to dissipate inside him. That was going to cost him.

After a while she was at a level of coughing where she could actually focus on him properly, her breaths were still fast, but more steady than before. Silence filled the room as she sat there, regaining her breath. Tai felt a lurch in his stomach, rising up his throat, and he quickly turned away from her, bracing himself against a corner of the wall as he threw up.

He waited a few seconds, still feeling queasy as his body purged the remaining smoke. He took several deep breaths and swayed as he turned around, walking forward a few steps to see an empty chair, rocking slightly from a sudden movement only done a few seconds ago. Tai dragged himself to the open door, looking out into the dark little tunnel, seeing nothing and nobody. He took a step out when he felt a hand grab him from behind, pulling him into the shadows. He didn't move or react, knowing how that could cost him.

The girl's voice was a whisper in his ear. "Thank you. _Tai_." the pressure on his neck vanished as she ran past him, as quick as the wind, and disappeared around the corner, going back into the tunnels. He stood there dumbly, not quite believing what she said. Now a new slew of questions came up. Why was she working with Amon? What happened to her?

A voice, definitely Korra's, bounced up the tunnel towards him. He walked towards the corner, and the wind was taken out of him as someone slammed into his chest, nearly knocking him out and down onto the floor.

They stood still for a few seconds, there in the darkness. Only her frantic breaths and his tired breathing could be heard. "You can- eh - stop crushing me with your arms." he found his need for air was increasing considerably.

She quickly pushed away from him, clasping them behind her back as she looked away, abashed. "Oh. Sorry." she said, moving back a little to give him some breathing room.

He swayed as he saw the worried looks she kept giving him, her fist flew towards his shoulder, nearly spinning him around. "You won't have a shoulder left if you keep pulling stupid stunts!" she said, injecting as much humor and flippancy in her voice as possible.

A smirk overtook him as he realized how badly she was failing at convincing him. "Sorry." he simply said, figuring one word should do it.

Korra sighed and guided his arm over the back of her neck, resting it on her shoulder. He nodded gratefully and let her take his weight, being half-carried towards the dim orange smoke just ahead. He lifted his head up to look at her. "Is everyone alright?" he said, not trying to wince at how hoarse and tired his voice sounded.

"Yes. Please don't do anything like that again. _Thank you_." he smirked as he heard the worried tone pop up again. He blinked a few times as they walked through the thickest of the smoke. "Didn't take you for the worried type." he coughed and sputtered, than looked at her with a tired grin. "Korra."

Tai saw her eyes roll as the smoke began to clear up, and the sounds of voices and people carried to them from the massive room up ahead. He felt a lurch in his stomach as he tipped forward for a moment, and his foot stubbed against an upraised stone. "Owww." he complained.

She giggled as she smirked at him. "Oh no, I must have slipped on a _rock_." she drily stated.

"Clever..." he rolled his eyes as they came through the threshold, entering the massive room and seeing campfires scattered across it's floor. Many people approached from all directions, although they kept their distance as they saw that the Avatar's companion was injured. A few among them, their faces unseen, called out to her, most were pleas for help, can you heal my son? Can you bless our child, can you perform the last rites?

Korra didn't show it, but she was deeply disturbed by all of their pleas. She was still in-training, she had no _idea_ how to handle what these people wanted. A few were less pleas for help and more being used as a weapon for vengeance though. She couldn't keep a dark look from settling on her, she just wanted to get back to their campsite and think.

The weight on her shoulder got heavier, and she noticed the drag in his feet was getting more pronounced. She glanced at him, and how his head was starting to hang lower and lower. She did the one thing that would wake him up quickly. She stopped for a moment, holding him in front of her, and slapped his cheek, and the noise it made rang out far and wide across the massive room.

He yelped and his eyes flew open. She looked at him. "Not yet, not that far to go."

Korra didn't wait for an answer as she practically dragged him along, getting closer and closer to the central space of the whole 'city'. She threw looks back at the crowd of people that grew larger and larger as they kept walking, a few of the smarter ones saw these looks and immediately disappeared off into a different direction, some of them whistling as they went. Unfortunately a majority were too blind or focused on their needs to see that she really didn't want to be saddled with their problems at the moment. The crowd surged forwards, and before she knew it they were in the middle of a sea of faces, she and Tai were jostled about as people tried push through to her, wanting to be seen or heard by the avatar, but they were pushed back equally as fast, replaced by the physically stronger among them. She noticed a few of them casting rakish looks at her, and that made her blood boil.

She took a deep breath and stopped for a moment. The din of people shouting grew louder and louder until it was like a thunderstorm had appeared right on top of her. A single low and menacing growl could be heard among the voices. They began to die down as she glared at them all, just daring them to even think of coming near her.

Finally the crowd got the message, and the immediate space around her cleared up, giving her some much needed breathing room. She looked at each and ever one of them. "I know how bad everything is right now! I do! And I apologize for this, but I can't deal with everyone's problems right now! I need some space!" her voice rang out across the crowd, and different expressions washed over them. Confusion. Guilt. Anger.

"The avatar _needs space?_ That's fine we'll just stand here and starve while you _rest_!" someone in the crowd shouted. She couldn't stop the urge to shout back. "Listen buddy! I can't deal with everything at once!" she shouted, silencing the crowd. "NOW. GO." she warned in a low dangerous tone. Immediately they backed off, dispersing immediately back to their own campsites, leaving her to sigh with relief, finally able to move uninterrupted.

As she was about to move forward, she saw Tai lift his head to look at her. "That was... not very nice." he said, his voice barely audible and every word sounding labored. He closed his eyes again, before shaking himself awake, gritting his teeth as a bruise on his body decided to protest.

"I'm already taking care of someone else, their stuff can come later." she explained.

She saw him nod once, and drift back into that half-aware doze again. She shook her head and guided them towards a building, it's roof covered by orange and blue canvas that stretched across wide swathes of the ramshackle construction, with others of different colors connecting to them the other ramshackle buildings nearby.

The floor shuddered as something large and heavy lumbered towards the two of them with a long pink tongue lolling out of the side of it's mouth, Naga howled a greeting as she slowed down, now at walking speed. She stopped and sat on her haunches in front of them, leaning forward to sniff Tai, a curious look in her eyes as she tilted her head. Korra nodded, and Naga yapped, and launched an vicious assault on the boy's face, with nothing but her tongue as a weapon, and polar-bear dog saliva as spent ammunition.

Tai groaned as her tongue slapped him on the cheek, opening his eyes again to see the massive dog staring at him, her tongue threatening to attack him again. He began to sway as he held his hand out, patting her on the side of the snout. Naga barked and shifted to the side to reveal a small sputtering fire, around which three people stood with shocked and curious looks. He waved weakly. "Hey." he simply stated.

Of course Bolin spoke up first. "Wha-whe-how-what-no." he took a deep breath, and started again. "Dude. You look like... bad things." he folded his arms together and tilted his head as Tai nodded.

"Nice to see you too Bolin." he coughed and sputtered, and Korra shifted her grip on him as they drew near the fire. He noticed Mako was looking at the floor between his feet, a very complex look on him.

Korra glanced at all of them. "I'll be back, he needs a _lot_ of healing." everyone nodded, and she moved him past the fire, heading towards a small cube of scrap metal, with the open side covered by a tattered red sheet. The thing was about half the size of his room on air temple island. A lone bench took up half the floor it covered, and as Korra threw the sheet open, she set him down on the bench.

The sheet fell back down, leaving the two of them in the box. She knelt in front of him and smiled. He opened his eyes again, and blinked twice. Slowly. "Are you alright?" he asked.

She answered with a smirk. "Why do you make dumb decisions all the time?"

He swayed as he sat on the bench, eyes unfocused and thoughts dazed. "I hope that... was rhetorical." he answered, before coughing again. She drew a stream of water out of the pouch on her hip, a unspoken command in her eyes. He swallowed and peeled the coat from his shoulders, feeling much lighter and more steady when the heavy material dropped onto the bench next to him.

As he bent forward to take his shirt off, he gasped as the bruises on his sides and stomach flared up. Gritting his teeth he pulled that off as well, revealing that the area around his belly was a greyish color, the mark of a very strong kick. His sides didn't fare much better, little clusters of coin sized bruises trailed up and down them, only stopping a ways from his armpits. He heard her tut as she molded the water into a healing blob and worked on his sides first.

He heaved an immense sigh as the familiar feeling of his aches and pains being drained away soothed him, his thoughts getting clearer with each second. As she shifted the water over his chest and belly she looked up at him questioningly. "So where did the 'equalist hostage' go?" she asked casually.

"She got away." he yelped as he felt one of his bruises flare up, even though the water should have been healing it.

"Did you know her?"

"What?"

"Did you know her?" Korra repeated.

He looked away for a second and sighed. "_Thought_ I did.", he didn't look at her as he took a deep breath, glad that it didn't nearly knock him out to do so. "She was -uh- some one I met on the way... well... here I guess."

"Uh huh." Korra looked back down, focusing on draining the bruises from around his belly. "Were you...?"

Tai smirked at the fact that she couldn't hide the jealousy evident. "No. Nothing like that. Telei says tha-" his gaze darkened as he remembered some very unpleasant memories.

The water collected back into a stream, and it flowed back into her pouch. She looked at him. "Tai. Who _is_ Telei?" she arched an eyebrow as he looked at her, wondering if he really should tell. He came to a decision. A bit of background wouldn't hurt that much. "Well, as I've said before, he's- _was_ - my master, taught me the basics for a lot of things, helped me learn my air bending. When Amo-" he caught himself, already thinking that he revealed too much to her.

Korra folded her arms. "He's an air bender?"

Tai reluctantly nodded. "One of the best, I don't think even Tenzin could compare." he took a deep breath and went to stand, eager to get off the topic, when Korra glanced at his sword. "So he taught you how to use that?"

"Actually... Mom did." he corrected. He didn't say any more, already feeling depressed just thinking about her. She didn't ask any more questions either and they both settled into a silence. He cleared his throat and pulled his shirt and long coat back on, getting increasingly uncomfortable. As he stood up, he stumbled as she pulled him into a bear hug, making his abused ribs hurt a little. He couldn't help but blush, hoping to any spirit listening that she didn't see.

"Take better care of yourself- for me - _okay?_" she whispered into his ear, causing his cheeks to redden even further. She let go of him and disappeared through the sheet, leaving him to stand there dumbfounded again. He hissed as his ribs began hurting again. He supposed it was better to have something to take his mind off of her. He was too exhausted and mentally drained to even entertain the idea of working out what happened.

He shrugged, even though the tiny movement made his shoulders ache, and he left the through the sheet as well, liking the fact that he could move under his own power again. If he had to be helped by her, he would probably die of embarrassment right there and then. He shook the thoughts away and walked back to the campfire, dragging his left foot a little as it twinged with each time he pressed down on it. As he drew closer to them, he came to the conclusion that he was beginning to sway again, and immediately thoughts of lying down and him snoring proved very tempting.

He trudged past them, waving his hand a little as a substitute for saying good night, none of them asked him why, just nodding as he spotted a free cardboard mat nearby. He sighed as he remembered more than a few nights spent on one of them. Suddenly someone tapped his shoulder and he fought the urge to whirl around as fast as he could. Instead he turned his head a little, noticing Korra's bright eyes in the corner of his vision. "Huh?" he eloquently asked, she steered him around and pointed to Naga, he nodded slowly as he caught on. As he shuffled towards the polar-beard dog he noticed that worried look had sprung up again.

Naga shifted a little for him as he leaned against her warm flank, welcoming the plush paradise that was her white fur. He sighed contentedly as he closed his eyes, navigating by touch to take his glider and sword off of his back, immediately he felt lighter as he placed them on the floor next to him. Now that he'd done that he let himself fall into sleep, and soon enough, his snores were enough to keep everyone else awake. He didn't really care if they wanted that or not.

* * *

Mako stared at the fire, waving his fingers in small movements to keep it alive and going, he liked how it soothed him. How every time he looked into the heart of a flame, all of his problems just... burned away. That thought brought a smirk to him as he glanced at his little brother, who sleeping nearby with a red bundle of fur on his chest and a thumb in his mouth, he could have sworn he heard strange little noises coming out from him. The sight reminded him of far happier times.

He sighed as he went back to looking at the fire, keeping it alive so everyone nearby would be warm. His eyes began wandering again, and he found himself looking at Asami as she slept opposite him, on the other side of the fire. Her hair was an utter _mess_. Her thick black locks had completely covered her face, almost like they sheltered her from the world, or he thought glumly, _him_.

Another sigh as he scowled, those dark thoughts popping back up again. He knew how much of an idiot he was being, he wanted to apologize to her, to them both actually, but something kept stopping him from doing so, that something was currently hidden from view, sleeping on the opposite side of her polar-bear dog. As he found himself looking over there, he also found himself looking at his battered friend. He blinked twice in confusion, he wasn't sure what he was. Sometimes he felt like throttling him, others he felt like a barbecue, and others he just felt the urge to snap at whatever words came out of the air bender's mouth.

It wouldn't have mattered to him, he would have been just _fine_ with things continuing like that, it would be much simpler that way. Tai says or does something stupid, he shouts and snarks to counter that, and it would go on and on and on until one of them walked away.

But what he did in the tunnel threw all of that into doubt. He stood up and nodded to himself, and left the fire, walking towards the sleeping air bender, his ears getting filled more and more with the absurd amount of noise coming out of the guy's mouth. _W__ow he could snore_. He unconsciously began grinding his teeth as the noise rang louder and louder, he stopped it, bending down to shake Tai's shoulder as he was still trying to work out his words. Odd, he always had something planned before doing it.

The snoring stopped for a few merciful seconds, and Tai's eyes flew open, more curious than suspicious. He blinked twice, yawning as he stretched. "Mako?"

Mako looked away for a moment before pointing to a empty side tunnel nearby, "Need to talk." he said, and walked away from Tai, looking at the ground as he walked towards the dark entrance, leaving the fires behind. A short while later Tai followed, hands in his pockets and a arched eyebrow as he stopped in front of him.

"So, uh, what's up?" Tai said while stifling a yawn.

Mako folded his arms and leaned against the wall nearby, looking down at his feet. "Thanks."

"Th-thanks? For what?" the guy asked, genuinely curious.

Mako thought he was being quite thick. "Back in the tunnel." he explained.

A look of comprehension dawned on Tai's half-awake expression. "Oh, uh, no problem, any time." he said, scratching the back of his neck and looking at his feet. "_Someone _would have murdered me if I hadn't dragged you out."

He smirked. "Is that right?", he grew serious again, looking straight at him. "Seriously though, thank you. And I suppose this is a good time to apologize as well." he glanced away and scratched his neck as well.

Tai was slow to pick up on what he was saying. "Really? For what?", a playful tone crept into his question as he folded his arms, tilting his head to one side with an amused look.

Mako was sure he deliberately drew this out, he sighed. "For the crap way I've been acting towards you. I'm _sorry_."

The other boy huffed. "Well what makes you think I _want_ an apology?" he dropped the act and chuckled. "Accepted. And I'm sorry as well."

It was his turn to be confused. "I'm the one who's supposed to be saying sorry not _you_."

"No I need to as well, I haven't exactly been that great either." Tai admitted.

Mako rolled his eyes. "_Tell me about it_." he mumbled, at a high enough volume for the other boy to hear.

"I heard that." he said. Mako widened his eyes in mock surprise, flinging his hands out. "Oh _no_," he narrowed his eyes challengingly. "What are you going do, breath on _me_?" he teased.

Tai chuckled before regarding him with a dark look. "Fire needs _air_ you know."

"Well maybe I'll call you when I need some."

"Ha. Funny.", a few seconds of silence followed, then the two of them burst into quiet laughter, trying not to disturb the sleeping people of the underground hideout. Tai had a stupid grin on his face as he looked at Mako, seeing him in a new light for the first time. For his part Mako didn't grin, although the warm look on his face said otherwise. "I... uh... heard about how you tried to find Korra when..." he found himself faltering with each word, as images of her roughed up and alone in that dark cellar overwhelmed him for a moment.

"Oh. Yeah." Tai mumbled, obviously uncomfortable with the topic.

"Thank you. For that as well." he finished, not wanting to hang around any longer or embarrass himself he cleared his throat loudly, and walked past Tai, heading back towards his cardboard mat. He quickly laid down on it, and luckily for him, his thoughts all turned to sleep and dreams.

* * *

A grey and overcast sky showed itself to the people of the 'city' that sat underneath the slit, signalling that the night was over, and another day of winter began. Snow fell down through it, settling into small piles on the floor, not likely to get any larger due to the small access they had into the massive room. The wind that blew down was cold and biting, a grim reminder of what those citizens on the surface had to contend with alongside an equalist regime.

A large bloated shadow floated in the sky right above the slit, blocking the grey and dark clouds with a crimson red balloon, ringed by metal girders that formed a structural ribcage to give it rigidity. Massive flood lights mounted on both sides of the gondola flicked on, pointing straight down into the slit.

Not a single person moved, and fires were put out across the room, denying the airship any chance of spotting signs of life down there. They just wouldn't stand for a place where benders and non-benders could exist _equally_.

After a minute of heart-wrenching silence, the massive ship shuddered forwards, turning their search lights towards the streets above as they left air above the slit behind.

A girl sitting on a rickety box stared up at the space it just occupied, wondering if her father was looking out from an observation window, presumably looking for her. She flicked a unruly black lock out of her eyes, and sighed as very recent memories began surfacing. She made the mistake of looking at the electro-gauntlet, her eyes following the cables that fed into the large spherical discharge lens mounted at the center of the palm. She looked away as the image of a kindly, _misguided_ face, highlighted by electrical discharge stared at her in disbelief. Those ever present doubts presented themselves again, and she found herself looking at the avatar and her boyfriend talking nearby over a steaming bowl of...that _stuff_.

The new thought cleared those doubts away as she remembered the unpleasant gruel she was so unused to seeing. She thought she was prepared for this kind of thing, thinking that she could do whatever was necessary to help her friends, which included eating that revolting gruel.

She held herself as her insecurities overwhelmed her, trying to sway her over to the fact that she _was not __cut out for this_. She swore softly as a tear rolled down her cheek, and she quickly wiped it away when she saw the two of them walk past, presumably off to do... _something_.

Immediately she clamped down on those thoughts, she couldn't afford to be like that now, there was too much at stake. Korra had been a good friend to her ever since they met, she wasn't that kind of girl.

Sadly, her view of her best friend did nothing to get rid of those doubting thoughts.

Another tear, and she sniffed a little as she felt her walls tumbling down. In a matter of months, her world had been turned upside down, the closest and for most of her childhood the _only _friend she had disowned her, she had sacrificed all of her comforts.

_And for what?_ She pushed those doubts back down, but found it increasingly difficult to keep them like that. She didn't care about those things, she never did, she only wanted to do the right thing, like her mother. A small smile came to her lips as she remembered the cold winter days spent in that comfy chair facing the fireplace, where she curled up on mother's lap, and together they read at least five books in a row. Or every friday night like clockwork she would squeeze her hand excitedly while watching a particularly pitched pro-bending match.

She smiled to herself at those memories, feeling as if they were the only concrete thing she knew. Slowly, more and more tears started rolling, and it didn't really matter to her who saw. Maybe except for Mako. She laughed bitterly at the mere thought of him. She knew she shouldn't, she knew that he loved her, but what she couldn't be certain of was for what _reason_ he did.

A squeak made her jump a little, and just like that the doubts vanished, and cold, stark reality watched her in the form of a warm and fuzzy face with beady eyes. Pabu looked up at her, sniffing the air as he hopped onto her lap, doing that strange head tilt as he stretched to lick her chin.

She couldn't help but giggle at the strange sensation of the little guy's tongue, and despite what her doubts were, that brought a genuine smile to her lips. She returned the favour by rubbing him under the chin, Pabu chittered appreciatively and stamped his foot.

Asami heard a yelp and the sound of something crashing to the floor behind her, and she hid her smirk. "Hey Bolin."

A groan answered her as she turned to see him sprawled face-down on the ground, his foot stuck in a bucket, miraculously the bowls he held in each hand were still intact. He eyed the two of them carefully as he shifted into a sitting position, and shuffled forward, sticking his tongue out in concentration.

She couldn't help laughing as he grinned. "Are you okay?" she asked with a smirk. He blew a stray clump of hair out of his face. "Oh yeah, happens all the, uh time." he cleared his throat and offered one of the bowls. "Got some muesli for ya, hobo gruel doesn't agree with everyone." She was stunned for a second at his act of kindness, and jumped a little when she realised she froze for at least five seconds. She smiled apologetically and took it from his hand, gracefully balancing it on her lap next to Pabu.

"Thanks Bolin, that's very sweet of you." she said, thankful for some real food.

He nodded with bulging cheeks, already having dug into his. She waited until he had swallowed before asking something. "How did you get muesli?"

Bolin shrugged. "I know some of the people who live down here, they have a resturant." he said before eating another spoonful.

She honestly didn't know how to respond to that. "You're sure they don't mind?"

"Of course not! They kept me and Mako from starving before we..." he trailed off for a moment, and immediately Asami felt horrible. "Sorry about that." she weakly apologized.

He waved it off. "Nah, it's fine." his eyes wandered as he noticed something behind her. She looked as well and saw the two of them talking and laughing, she couldn't help the dark look on her face.

He noticed. "Asami, if I may?" he put down the bowl, and Pabu squeaked in surprise as Bolin grabbed him and held him up like a puppet. "Mako is very, very, stubborn. Most of the time he won't realise what's wrong until _someone_ - and that dubious honor usually falls to me - tells him, and let's him know what an idiot he's being. I have. _Countless times_." the ferret fixed a dirty look at him. "And - uh - Pabu helped." he grinned at his furry friend, and the ferret squeaked appreciatively, content that his part in things had been mentioned.

"So that's it? Just walk over there and call him an idiot?" she looked down at the bowl, watching gentle wisps of smoke rising from it's surface.

Bolin nodded eagerly. She rolled her eyes. "Better then anything I've got." she sighed and went to stand when she noticed the two of them were walking over to them right now. She fought the urge to look at the floor when his eyes met hers, and Korra, still oblivious, smiled warmly at the two of them. She opened her mouth to say good morning when Tai and Gommu ran towards them from a small cobbled-together shack nearby, in which a table laden with some kind of equipment could be seen.

The old hobo huffed a little as he stopped in front of them, while Tai looked at them all. "Gommu just intercepted a wire from Mr. Sato." he ignored the dark look on Asami when he mentioned that name. "Equalists are gearing up for something big in central park-" Gommu clapped the boy on the shoulder, having regained his breath. "That's not all. They've surrounded police headquarters."

Korra's eyes narrowed.

* * *

潮


	26. Plans, and The Resistance

Pabu tilted his head as he stared at a small glowing sphere hovering in the air above him. He reached up a paw to grab it when it buzzed and zagged out of his reach, heading up towards the night sky visible in the slit. He heard the sound of talking coming from the shack nearby, and when he heard Bolin's voice he ran to it, slipping underneath the curtain and skittering up his back. Bolin glanced at him and held up a hand to rub his ears. He looked back at the map of the city.

"So… what do we do?"

The tiny bulb hanging above their heads flickered and sputtered away as everyone gathered around the rickety table looked at Tai for a moment, trying to figure out plans and ways of taking control of the city back from the equalists. Mako slapped a spot on his shoulder, and a mosquito buzzed weakly as he wiped it off of his hand.

Korra folded her arms together, and rubbed her chin while staring at a particular little island in the bay. After a few moments she sighed, dropping her head. "I'm… not sure, I'm not very good with planning."

She perked up as Mako placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, encouraging a little smile out of her. He looked down at the map, and then pointed at the police station. "First things first. We need to secure the station, find a way to get inside. There's gotta be people still left in there."

"Yeah, but aren't we forgetting that the station is _surrounded__?_" Asami pointed out, reluctantly Mako had to agree with her. He went quiet for a moment, trying to think of some way around that fact.

Korra grinned at all of them. "So it's simple," she smirked and slammed a fist into her palm. "We give em' a distraction. Bolin." she glanced at him. "Do you remember where they took you on the way to Amon's revelation?"

"Oh, uh sure... actually we went there while trying to find... uh... you..." he stammered, pressing the tips of his index fingers together and looking at the floor. He glanced at Mako for a moment, sharing a knowing look about what he did last time he was there. He almost shivered thinking of that murderous look his brother had while holding a flame to that guy's throat.

She looked down at the floor for a moment, pointedly averting the looks that everyone was giving her. Her hand clenched as she remembered how helpless she was stuck in that metal box, unable to do anything but _meditate_. The first few hours were the worst.

Korra shook them away, only wanting to focus on the present, something that she can change. "Yeah... anyway, I also think we need to keep tabs on Amon's movements in the city as well. That way once the United Forces arrive, we can take him out quickly."

Everyone nodded. Gommu stood up from his telegraph machine, "If I may my young avatar?" from out of nowhere he produced a long and wibbly stick, and stabbed it down on a cluster of buildings near police headquarters. "I know some folks who live around the area, I can get the word out and they'll distract our would-be administrators, it should give you guys enough time to get into the building." he winked and folded his arms together, flicking a little bug off of his shoulder.

Mako nodded and looked at everybody. "I have an idea then." he stabbed a finger down on the dragon flats district. "Some of us will jump one of their patrols, grab their clothes and infiltrate the hideout to track Amon's movements." he slid it across until it settled on the grey rectangle sitting astride a main road. "The rest of us will head here to get in contact with any remaining officers. With luck we can secure the building and use it as a base for resisting the equalists."

Tai rubbed his chin. "When I was last over there, I heard that Commander Makei and his best officers weren't in the city when they began their attack, with luck they should be hanging around the place.", he thought about Boto and Sensha, thinking that he at least needed to see if they were alright. "I volunteer." he calmly stated, sticking his hand up.

"Korra what do you think?" Mako turned to her, waiting for an answer. She scratched the back of her head. "I'll need to be part of the pair going into the hideouts. If Amon is present at any of them... I have to be there."

No one argued with that.

Mako looked at her. "I'll go with you." she glanced at him curiously. "I know some of those tunnels. And you need someone to watch your back." he explained, briefly getting a strange look in his eyes as he remembered those dark cramped mazes. She nodded "Okay."

Asami focused on the map, ignoring the looks the two of them shared. "I'll go with Tai and Bolin than." she folded her arms and glanced at the two boys standing either side of her, just daring them to ask why. She nodded and left the group, leaving them to continue on.

"Your lady friend is a bit-" Mako cut Gommu off with a hard stare. "Yeah...leave it alright?" he glowered at the well meaning hobo before turning and leaving as well, shrinking the group down to the three of them.

Korra shifted her feet for a bit as she sighed. "Let's do it then." she nodded without saying anything more, moving past them towards Naga, who slept peacefully a couple of meters away. Tai looked at Bolin. "Complicated isn't it?"

"Not really, well sort of, actually I'm not..." he heaved a sigh. "Yep." Tai smirked as he clapped Bolin's shoulder, steering him around and pushing him out of the tent. Pabu squeaked at the disturbance in his sleep, and once he noticed who was doing the disturbing, quickly ran onto his shoulder, curling up again just as quickly. They saw Korra kneeling next to a canal filled with surprisingly clean water, a stream was being slowly drawn from it, flowing gently into the open pouch on her hip.

"You sure about this?" Tai asked, kneeling next to her. Boto folded his arms as he stood over her. "It's a huge risk-"

"I can handle it, Bolin." She interrupted him, then chuckled. "You aren't _worried_ are you?" she teased.

"Of course I am." He answered in a heartbeat, he reddened slightly as the words left his mouth.

Tai raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. "You're a risk taker, everything you _do_ worries everyone else."

The stream froze in mid-air as she folded her arms. "You can talk."

"It's different with me though, I'm not the avatar." he countered.

She sighed. "I'll be fine you guys. Mako's coming with me." she resumed the stream's flow, waiting a few seconds to see the water reach up to the neck of her pouch before stopping the flow, letting the stream go back into the canal.

"Korra! Ready?" they heard Mako shout from near the entrance to a tunnel. "Yep!" she answered. As they all stood up, she punched Tai in the shoulder. "Stay safe, okay?"

Tai rubbed his shoulder. "You have got to _stop_ hurting me woman." he punched him in the same spot, smirking when he yelped. She turned to Bolin. "Don't let him do anything stupid."

He grinned. "Consider it done milady." he did the sloppiest curtsy bow possible, managing to stumble over his own feet in the process. Korra stifled a laugh as she walked away from them, waving goodbye to the both of them.

"Always trying to impress aren't you?" Tai folded his arms and tilted his head, amused. Bolin shrugged as Asami walked towards the two of them, already wearing the electro-gauntlet. She stopped and placed a hand on her hip. "You guys ready?"

Bolin straightened. "As always." he answered smoothly. Tai tugged the straps holding the scabbard on his back, testing their tightness and strength. He looked at her and nodded. "Ready." he saw Korra and Mako walking down the tunnel nearby, and he glanced at Asami. "Don't you want to-" she cut him off by pushing past him, heading towards the little tunnel leading to the park. He held his hands. "-Obviously not." he sighed as the two of them followed her into the tunnel, leaving the underground 'city' behind.

* * *

_Police Headquarters_

The walls had finally stopped shuddering for the first time in over a day.

Makei found himself staring up at the ceiling, watching small streams of dust fall to the floor, shaken loose by the constant barrage of mecha tanks trying to bash down the main doors. He looked to his left down the cramped and dimly lit hallway, seeing Hei pressed up to the wall near the doors that led to the sub-levels, which they just spent four hours working clearing the gas out of the upper level ventilation system. Ten officers had already been incapacitated by the white cloud, and they were forced to leave them in the post-op infirmary a level below.

He called out to his private. "Private! What's the count?" Hei dropped down one one knee and took off his gloves, rubbing his palms together he then slammed them onto the floor, heaving a deep breath. He was motionless for a few seconds, deep in concentration.

Nisha ran a hand through her hair as she moved to the commander's side, entering from a side door nearby. "System map shows that the generators won't respond - connection lines have been cut." she sighed as she braced herself against the wall for a moment, breathing heavily. "But we did get access to the cameras - we're lucky they were only recently installed."

Makei nodded. "Next time I see Saikhan, tell him I owe him a beer and a game ticket."

She smiled wearily. "Yes sir. Anyway, cameras show that at least ten more tanks have shown up, and they've thickened their perimeter with more men. It doesn't look like we'll be able to move anytime soon commander."

"Commander!" Hei walked towards the two of them. "More of them are moving through the tunnels connecting to the sub-levels, I count at least five more squads or so. They're close." he rubbed the back of his neck. "What do we do sir?"

He turned away from the two of them, looking at the other officers of the group. They all looked worn down and haggard, and were more than likely about to collapse at any moment. He couldn't let them. Not yet. A few of them got up off of the floor, favoring a leg or nursing a arm as they regarded him with a steely look. Washi limped towards him, while nursing his wrist. "We're ready commander."

"More equalists are approaching the building from the tunnels underneath. We need to split into two groups. I want fifteen men to head back downstairs and get our incapacitated out of there and onto ground level, when you are done you will block any entrances connecting the sub level to the surface. The other group will head upstairs and secure the medical wings and communication stations. Lieutenant," he pointed at Nisha and the man with a impressively kept moustache. "You and Ishi will have command of group one. Get down there and get 'em out." Nisha straightened, saluting as she moved towards Sergeant Ishi. "Will do sir." immediately officers began shifting and moving about, resulting in most of the ones who had the least injuries taking up positions near the sub level doors. The ones with impaired mobility filed in behind them, Nisha and Ishi moved to the head of the large group, and filed through the doors down into the dark staircase, leaving Makei and four others left in the hallway.

Hei moved to his side. "Nearest stairs are the ones next to the freight elevator." Makei nodded and led them down the hallway towards a closed pair of double doors. "We'll cut across the lobby to save time." he pushed them open, revealing several knocked out citizens still sprawled in their chairs, a group of blockers were spread out among them, and Makei's eyes narrowed as he saw them dragging benders towards a open side door. Luckily they hadn't spotted them yet.

Makei nodded curtly to Hei, and pointed to the wall that ran towards the reception desk. The young man nodded and crept forwards, hugging the wall so he wouldn't be spotted by them too early. Makei gestured to the three men behind him. Two of them swayed unsteadily but their eyes were still bright and focused. He gestured for them to follow him, holding a finger to his lips as he began to move forward, making sure to muffle the sounds made by his armor plates rubbing against each other.

He kept back a bit where the hallway opened out into the lobby, from where he was he could hear a few snippets of a conversation between two of the blockers. "-Lieutenants orders, Lagi, nothing we can do about it." he heard the man grunt as he bent down to put a unconscious man with earth kingdom clothes over his shoulder, the blocker he was talking to squatted over the unconscious body of a clerk, patting his pockets for anything useful. "Doesn't mean I like it though, I didn't sign up for this!"

"You didn't _sign up _for anything, kid! You joined to stop them oppressing us-" Makei heard the older blocker wearily say.

"Maro he's gone too far though!" the blocker named 'Lagi' complained, standing up straight and looking at his older comrade, staring into his lenses.

The commander rolled his eyes and stepped out into the open, startling the younger and more idealistic equalist. He pointed his arms at them, and made the spool on his back spin noisily for effect. "I'd stop what you're doing right now, it'd be simpler that way." both of them held their hands up, as he advanced towards them. He jerked his chin towards the reception desk, and his other officers immediately ran towards it, keeping their wires trained on the pair of blockers trying to creep up on Makei's flank.

The two of them looked at each other and shrugged. "Now hold on-" Maro said, a wire from each launcher wrapped around the two of them, the older man grunted as he was forced to the ground, while Lagi yelped as he tripped over his own feet on the way down, his face being the first to touch the floor. Makei walked towards the two of them, he looked at the two of them before his fist crashed into Maro's cheek, knocking the older equalist out cold. He was about to do the same to his younger comrade when he noticed that he was already unconscious.

He heard a series of whistling sounds behind his back and the grunts and yells of blockers crashing to the floor, he dragged his catches over to wall nearby, leaning them against. He focused and the length of wire that was wrapped around the two blockers snapped away, coming free from his launchers. He bent down and tied the lengths off, so that they couldn't get free while he and the other moved off to secure the rest of the building.

"Sir, there's no one else on this floor but us. Moving around at least." Hei stood up and drew his palm way from the floor, putting his glove back on. Makei nodded. "What about the other floors?" he asked. Hei sighed and shook his head. "Won't know until we reach them."

Makei nodded as he walked towards the empty hallway where the other officers were. He looked at all of them. "Up the stairs until we reach the third floor.", they nodded and filed up the stairs nearby, keeping to a slow pace to avoid being heard.

He walked up the stairs after them at a normal pace, compensating by muffling his footsteps and armor plates. Hei followed closely, and as they reached the second floor everything shook violently, and a series of booms could be heard coming from below them. Everyone stopped for a moment, professional enough to cut the murmuring. Makei frowned as he thought about what was happening down there, but couldn't dwell on it. After the worst of it had passed they kept going, leaving the second floor behind as they continued to ascend up the stairs.

The decor of the stairs was a stark contrast to the third floor. Everything was grey. The walls, the floors, even the fixtures and cables were grey as well. Consequently that meant that it was very dark up there, and Makei could hardly see anything past the first few feet directly in front of the third floor landing. The acrid smell of burnt wires and scorched wood reached up his nose, and as his eyes adjusted to the gloom, he noticed that scorch marks were visible along every surface, and the air up here was much dryer and hotter than on the other floors.

He took a step forward, and quickly shifted his weight, as he saw that most of the metal flooring had buckles and snapped, exposing trails of sparking wiring to them. Cautiously he took another step forward, and the full force of the air slammed into him, and he felt the metal plates of his armor begin to warm up noticeably. He held up his hand, and everyone stayed on the staircase as he advanced forward, gritting his teeth as the metal in his boots began to warm as well, making each step increasingly uncomfortable.

The corridor fed into another one up ahead, and as he got closer the temperature rose considerably, and pretty soon he would be cooking in his own armor. He stopped for a moment and held his arms out to the sides, closing his eyes he took a deep breath, and many of the metal plates shifted and moved towards the spool on his back. He waited until the plates covering his arms and feet had retracted, and he stopped the process, feeling lighter and less likely to cook. He peered around the corner, seeing that the devastation here was much more complete than the corridor he stood in. Almost every part of the wall and floor was charred, and smoke dominated the entire corridor. He noticed that the corridor leading to the freight elevator had collapesed on itself, with the metal on this side fused together, making it impossible to get through to the other side.

He swallowed as he noticed his lips were dry. He heard footsteps coming through the smoke towards him, he raised his launchers up, preparing to deflect the inevitable onslaught of bolas and grenades. A dark haired girl and a brown skinned youth walked towards him, disbelief in their eyes. "Commander!" Boto exclaimed. He saw he had taken his chest armor off, only wearing a white singlet. Sensha still wore all of her clothes, all though he guessed she was able to handle the heat much better then he could.

Makei sighed in relief as the cool air surrounding the two of them reached him, he nodded at the two of them. "Lieutenant, Sensha, what are you two doing up here?" he asked, each breath of air a little easier to swallow now that the air didn't scorch and leech moisture from him. He gestured for them to follow him back down the corridor.

"We were with councilman Tenzin when the equalists gassed the building, we managed to get outside before it reached us, but they surrounded us." he looked at Makei. "Saikhan's been captured, as have most of the council."

As they reached the stairs, Makei stopped for a moment and swore quietly. He looked at the two of them. "Do you two know where Tenzin is now?"

Sensha answered him. "He left with Avatar Korra for Air Temples Island, just before the equalists took it over." she quietened as she thought about the others who were on the island.

"So we don't know where the two of them are right now?" he asked. They both shook their heads. "Better get to organizing a counter attack then. How many officers made it out of the building?"

Boto shrugged. "Only a handful or so, last I heard they're now scattered across the city. But councilman Tenzin did send a wire to the United Forces. They should be arriving in two days."

Makei felt _old_ as he realized the last time he had seen Bumi was at least twenty years ago. He looked at the two of them and nodded. "You know the building's been surrounded?"

"We would have been out of here sooner if it wasn't." Sensha folded her arms. "It's going to be difficult getting past th-" A massive shudder ran through the building, and the floors and walls shook terribly as a massive crash was heard downstairs.

* * *

_Central Park_

Pabu cried a shrill warning, and he held on for dear life as the shoulder he sat on dropped down into the bush, a pair of blockers walked past the beauteous bush, oblivious to the fact that two boys were currently hiding inside of it. Once they had disappeared down the path a few minutes later, Bolin breathed a sigh of relief, and Tai an even larger one, as he could now breath again after being crushed against the ground by Bolin's larger build. He watched as Asami ran from one bush to the next, disappearing into the larger bushes. He couldn't he say he was comfortable with the idea of her going off by herself. Then his thoughts flashed through the vivid image of her wrathful face as he lay at her feet, curled in the fetal position with smoke rising from his nether regions.

He shook the thoughts away and rubbed his chest. "Warn me when you do that man!"

Bolin smirked. "Should have moved faster."

Pabu's chittering sounded suspiciously like a laugh as he stuck a tiny tongue out at Tai. The air bender vowed retribution for this slight. He blew a stray lock of hair out of his face as he stood up, looking down the path after the departing patrol. "You sure you know the way from here?"

Bolin stood up, stretching a little to shake off the effects of lying under a bush for half an hour. At least the leaves glittered enough for him not to be bored while doing so. He nodded. "I know this city like back of my hand-" subconciously he turned his hand over, and saw something that wasn't there before staring back at him. "-Hey! I have a _freckle?_" he exclaimed loudly, he felt a slap on the back of his head, and saw Tai shake his head sadly. He glanced at Pabu, and slumped with sadness as he saw the little ferret copying his friend's movements. He pointed at the bridge closest to them. "This way." he huffed and marched down the path, which luckily seemed to be exempt from any patrols passing through. Tai thought it was a good thing they weren't _that_ professional.

He moved at a jog to catch up with him, clapping Bolin on the shoulder as he slowed down next to him. The larger boy smirked as he looked at him. "So how many of them were left standing?" a smile threatened to break through as Tai arched an eyebrow at his question. "Wha - oh you mean back in the tunnel?"

"Yeah." he answered as they moved past a lonely bench with snow piling on top of it. Tai stuck his hands in his pockets as the wind picked up. "About two tanks and at least six blockers."

"_Pssh_, I could get that number with my eyes _closed_." Bolin boasted.

Tai smirked. "It'd be better to keep them _open_. To see the _electrified bolas_ spinning towards your face. Of which there were many."

"Oh? Wouldn't be a problem, just put up a wall!" he replied, using the simplest solution to stop something. Block it.

"Better yet, deflection works _wonders_." Tai countered.

Bolin frowned and scratched his head. "Uh, no, the problem would still be there."

Tai shrugged. "And I took out the problem by beating the living daylights out of them. Can't throw stuff when you're slammed into the ground."

"Good point." Bolin conceded. He looked up and noticed the wrought iron fence that surrounded the entire park. "Nearly there."

Tai nodded and stopped talking. He ran forwards until he reached the base of one of the tall fence posts. Bolin arched an eyebrow as he dropped to one knee and swirled one hand over the other. "What are you doing?"

"Springboard to get us over. Earth bending would make too much noise." he grunted a little as he stopped swirling his hand, and the faint outline of a spinning, flattened whirlwind could be seen, hovering just above his palm. He looked up at Bolin. "Just step down on it and it'll propel you over." he didn't voice the prospect of his hand being flattened if by some chance the whirlwind didn't do it's job. He mentally winced at the thought of it. The sound of running towards him made him look up again, and he saw Bolin sprinting straight for him, a determined smirk on his features, Pabu held on for dear life as he raised his leading foot over the whirlwind. Luckily the air responded instantly as it's rotation was broken, and Bolin was carried up and over the fence with a yelp. Pabu squeaked in fear as he nearly tumbled off his shoulder, although thankfully they landed on the other side with now trouble. Bolin took a deep breath and chuckled as he braced himself against the fencepost for a bit.

"Takes the breath out of ya!" he said excitedly. Tai wondered if he realized he made a pun. He stood up and twirled his hands, five seconds later he was carried over as well, landing alongside Bolin with almost no sound. "Let's go. We're in the open."

Bolin nodded and followed him across the street, their feet sinking into the wet slush of half melted snow. Several alleys opened out in front of them, and Tai stopped and rubbed his chin for a moment. "Which door?"

"Number two." he walked towards the middle alley, which happened to be the one with the least space. Dumpsters lined both sides, and most of them were overflowing with stinking diapers, slightly less stinking garbage, and uncountable amounts of shredded paper. Bolin clamped a hand to his nose, Pabu squeaked as he covered his snout as well, mirroring his owner's movements. Tai held his hand up in front of his nose, using the heavy and thick sleeve to block at least some of the smell. Cautiously he stepped forwards into the very dark space, aware that it would take at least three seconds for him to get his blade out.

A second later something slammed into his chest, and two hands grabbed his collar, spinning him around and into the dumpster nearby with a crash. Immediately he was up and leaping forward into the shadowy figure, who had strange coil of dark hair on his head as Tai crashed into him, sending them both tumbling to the ground. Bolin stood there, unsure of what to do.

They rolled into the light at Bolin's feet, and his first impulse was to scowl when he saw the distinctive hair-do on the shadowy figures head. "Tahno!" he blurted out.

Tai grabbed him by the collar and hoisted him up, revealing a pale haughty face grinning at the two of them, particularly at Bolin. "If it isn't the ferret and his pet _loser_."

"Who is this guy?" Tai growled as he looked up at Bolin, who folded his arms and scowled. "_F__ormer _captain of the wolf bats."

Tahno raised his hand in a lazy wave, grinning smugly as Tai glared at him. "Any reason you attacked me?"

He chuckled. "Hi. My name is Tahno." Tai rolled his eyes and released his grip. Tahno stumbled a few steps before getting his balance. "Who's your friend _Bo-Bo?_"

Tai glanced at Bolin. "We don't have time for this." he nodded as he rubbed his chin,deep in concentration and thought, he opened his mouth when Tahno tilted his head as he regarded the two of them. "This isn't the best time for a day out with your _boyfriend_.", Tai shook his head before punching the pretty boy in the gut, taking the breath out of him for a moment.

Tahno coughed and sputtered as he kept on with that _infuriating_ chuckle, and wiped his mouth as he straightened. "You're _very_ violent aren't you?"

The air bender looked at Bolin. "Didn't Korra say-", Tahno gasped in mock surprise. "You don't know the _uhvatar_ do you?" he did a mock bow, which made Tai's contempt for the creep only rise. "May I be of assistance?" he asked.

"There's voices coming from down this alley!"

Bolin's eyes widened in panic for a moment, and he stared at Tai. The air bender swore and looked deeper into the alley. He grabbed Tahno by the collar. "Let's _go_." he broke into a run, despite Tahno's protests, trying to get into the darkest part of the alley. Bolin followed closely, nervously tossing looks back at the entrance to the street.

A trio of dark clothed men came into view, striding towards them like they owned the street. Tahno shook Tai's grip away, giving the two of them a smug grin as he walked towards the trio, tucking his chin in. The tallest of them, a youth wearing a shoddily made jacket sneered at him. "Look who we have here. The king of cheats!"

The large heavyset man standing on his left stepped forward and pushed Tahno in the shoulder, getting a laugh out of the others. "He don't look so rich to me!" the tall youth rolled his eyes at how slow he was. As he did so he adjusted the blood red sash tied around his arm. "Never liked your matches, you never lost!"

Tahno grinned. "I have _skills_." he chuckled as the man growled and swung a fist at him, with a cat-like smile he easily stepped around the clumsy punch, and grabbed the youth's elbow, he spun him around kicked him into the wall, the youth slid down with a sigh. He didn't wait for the slow man to act first, he ducked under an arm and swept the man's feet out from under him, who yelped as he crashed to the ground painfully. Tahno smiled as he slammed his boot down onto the man's face, knocing him out.

He turned to the third of their group; a short and tiny boy who visibly paled as he took a few steps back. "And what are you going to do?" his smile was that of a wolfs as he leered at the boy, who panicked and ran, disappearing back onto the street and out of sight. Tahno bent down to pick something up from the tall youth's body, he walked back the two of them, holding up a sheet of paper emblazoned with the equalist symbol. "They got your good sides." he said, pressing it into Tai's chest. The boy held it out for Bolin to see, and the two of them frowned.

Their faces stared back, colored in cheap black ink. Alongside theirs were Korra, Mako, and Asami's. A phrase printed underneath the pictures grabbed his attention. "Enemies of the city..." he breathed. Tahno shook his head as he walked past the two of them, heading towards a side-alley. "Are you coming?" he stopped and tilted his head annoyingly, tapping his foot while waiting for the two of them to catch on.

Tai groaned. "_You _are one of Gommu's contacts?" Bolin's mouth hung open for a bit as he processed that fact.

Tahno raised his hand and curled his fingers into the shape of a gun, he pointed at Tai and bent his thumb down. "I am very _distracting_." he chuckled as they both looked at one another.

"Let's just go, _alright?_" he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. He noticed that the slimy creep was leering at him with that smug mug again. He glared at him and loosed his sword from it's scabbard, just a _tad_. That just made his smugness grow exponentially.

He stopped for a moment, hearing a slight rumbling noise, he held up a hand and Bolin stopped immediately, and arched his eyebrows worringly. Tahno rolled his eyes. "Are we gonna _go?_", he folded his arms and tapped his foot again, further increasing the sweeter-by-the-second thought of punching his damn lights out. Shoving those enticing thoughts away Tai cautiously peered around the corner, he sighed with relief when he looked up and saw a familiar iron colored dome poking over the tops of the buildings, just a block away. Glad that Tahno had shut up for the moment he crept around the corner, moving cautiously towards the street, he heard the rumbling noise again, only this time it was much closer and much louder. He stiffened as he saw a tread come into view, and quickly backed up against a nearby dumpster.

The rumbling stopped, and everything was quiet except for the slight whine of steam escaping from the tank's exhaust vents. The tank sat on the footpath just outside the alley for a moment, it's chassis swinging from side to side as the driver surveyed his patrol route.

Something shook on the opposite side of his dumpster. It sounded like cardboard, and Tai moved up against the gap between the dumpster and the wall, which was just large enough for him to see down. It was a cardboard box, and he noticed that it was shaking. The driver seemed too as well, as the upper chassis of the tank swung to look into the alley, sitting eerilly still for a moment. Suddenly the gears on the tracks grounded noisily as they worked to change the tracks orientation. The driver guided the tank into the narrow confine of the alley, stopping a few metres in. The way out was now blocked.

It's chassis lights flicked on, melting away the dimness in the alley with almost blinding light. At an unknown signal chi blockers swarmed over it's dreads, spreading out in a rough line that stretched wall to wall.

He counted seven of them. Tai glanced behind to see Tahno and Bolin crouched just by the corner. He motioned for them to stay there. Then he heard another rumbling noise, this time coming from the direction they came from.

He turned forwards, noticing one of the masked blockers held up a hand, commanding the others to stop. The box began to shake terribly as he drew closer, and Tai felt a shiver go down his spine when he heard sobbing coming from it. Someone was under there.

The leader bent down to grab the top of the box, throwing it away to reveal a little girl, wearing tattered red and brown clothes. She screamed and backed away from the equalist, and screamed again as she backed into the dumpster. The blocker had an iron grip on her long dark hair, and dragged her towards the machine waiting behind him. Tai felt more chills when he heard a soft business-like voice speak

"Sweep for more benders."

Tai closed his eyes for a moment as he took the scabbard off of his back, holding it with both hands he stood up and stepped into the open, a glare on his features. The leader noticed him out of the corner of his eye, and turned around, dragging the girl to stand in front of him. She sobbed and looked at Tai with tears streaming down her pale cheeks. He tightened his grip on the scabbard as he brandished it threateningly, staring into the impartial green lenses of the blocker leader. "Let her go." he growled.

He heard the man laugh. "It's policy now kid."

"She's just a little girl!" he shouted, taking a step forward. His eyes swept along the blocker's ranks, checking for any weapons on them apart from the bolas and grenades.

"One of you. Seven of us." the leader stated. Tai saw the claws on the tank's arms snap open as the arms rose to aim them at him. He moved one arm behind his back for a moment, signalling to Boto and Tahno to stay still for now. Without looking he confirmed that they had both disappeared from sight.

He kept his face impassive "One's enough." he said in a low tone, taking another step forward. In response the blockers began to spin bolas and ready their grenades. He smirked to unnverve them.

The leader's grip on the girl tightened, and she uttered a shrill scream as her hair was painfully wrenched upwards. She began sobbing again, and Tai fought to keep the glare from coming back.

* * *

_Dragon Flats Equalist Hideout._

Korra raised her head as she heard the tram come up the tunnel. The platform came to a stop in front of her, and Mako stepped away from the controls, nodding to her as he engaged the track locks. "Ready?" he said.

She stood up after tying off the rope around the unconscious man's hands. "All set." she gave him a thumbs up. He tilted his head and smirked as he ran his eyes up and down her. She scowled and folded her arms.

"The outfit agrees with you." he teased.

She shook her head and moved past him, walking past towards the downward sloping tunnel Mako came in on. "You made sure it's deserted?" she asked, uncomfortable with what they were using for a distraction.

He placed his hands on his hips and nodded. "Completely empty, nothing but equipment and tanks down there." he assured. He frowned when he glanced at her. "Are you sure _Tahno_ is the real deal?", he walked to her side, looking down the tunnel as well.

She hesitated for a second, then bobbed her head. "Yeah. I do. He wants to take down the equalists as much as we do." the tracks near them rattle slightly as something came up the tunnel. She turned to him. "That must be these contacts of his."

He rolled his eyes as they both stepped away from the tunnel's mouth, in time for another tram platform to slide into the waystation, coming to a stop behind Mako's commandeered one. A group of shoddily clothed people, many of them wearing green, red or blue somewhere on their clothes, jumped off and ran past the two of them, disappearing down the many side tunnels branching from the room. One of them walked towards the two of them, his beady eyes raking all over Korra, who pretended as hard as she could not to notice, his hands kept twisting and bunching a deep blue kerchief wrapped around one of his lanky forearms. Mako scowled as he folded his arms together. "Is it done Shin?" he asked, distaste obvious in his tone.

"All set my boy." he replied, almost hissing the words out. Mako fought the urge to grind his teeth. "I'm not your _boy_."

Shin grin oozed sleaziness as he glanced at Mako. "Spark it up, my _boy_."

Mako glared at him as he pointed his arm at the dark mouth of the tunnel, he uncurled two of his fingers. Taking a deep breath as he felt the warmth build along his arm, he snapped his fingers together, and heat bloomed inside his hand for a moment as a ball of fire came to life in his palm. He whipped his arm back, catching Korra's eye as he did so. He shook his head and stared into the darkness of the tunnel, he breathed out as his hand shot forward, flinging the ball of flame down the tunnel. Everyone was silent as the sound of the flames crackling echoed back, telling them that it was still falling.

A massive resounding boom sounded, and the room shook terribly as the tiny spark set off the gas and explosives Tahno's contacts had set in place among the equalist ordinance.

Immediately Shin ducked behind a pillar for cover as Korra stepped forwards, standing before the dark maw as she closed her eyes and raised her arms up. The pipes running on the walls of the room shook and rattled as she called the water inside to her. They burst open, and amidst a carpet of steam, their contents streamed to her, she splayed her fingers and slowly moved her arms forwards, still extended. The water responded by forming a massive wall of liquid that blocked the entire tunnel entrance in front of her. She exhaled as she wiggled her fingers about in small, graceful arcs. A roar came up out of the darkness, and not soon after the darkness was melted away by a wall of roiling flame that rushed up the tunnel, intent on getting out through the entrance at the top.

She gritted her teeth as the flames slammed into the water wall, and she grunted to keep it together. The flames tried to squeeze through every possible angle, and their efforts caused massive amounts of steam to lift away from the wall, and she began to sweat. Mako joined her in trying to contain the wall of flame, and she managed a tiny wink of appreciation.

He focused on controlling the massive wall, his breathing coming frantic and heavy as he began to sway unsteadily. The steam settled at their feet as the wall of flame began to flicker and die, and Korra took a step forwards, slowly moving her arm, the water wall copied her arms movement, and surged forward in a large torrent, devouring the flames and disappearing down the gullet of the tunnel.

She straightened and gave Mako a tired smile and a thumbs up. He smiled back, then frowned when he noticed an absence in the room. He shook his head as he folded his arms together. "Shin's already took off."

Korra nodded, and they both turned to leave the massive room through a little side tunnel.

* * *

_Near Police Headquarters._

The ground wobbled for a moment, like the entire city was being tossed around by a giant. The leader grunted as he lost his balance, flinging his arms out for balance. Tai unsheathed his blade in a heartbeat and ran forwards, zig zagging and keeping low for balance. He elbowed the leader in the groin, who's cry was muffled by the mask as he fell to the ground. He snatched the girl away and ran back to the corner where Tahno and Bolin were crouched. He let go of her hand and turned to head back, when he felt a small tug on his coat. He looked down and saw the little girl looking up at him,

She wrapped herself around his leg for a moment, before Bolin crouched down, and tapped her shoulder, while he reached out his other hand. She hesitated before grabbing it, and he sat down with her. "It's gonna be fine." he reassured her, he noticed that the little girl's eyes were colored a rich amber, and it briefly reminded him of someone he had seen before. He shook the thoughts away, focusing on calming and keeping her safe.

Tahno rolled his eyes as he walked away, disappearing into the alley they came from, soon after the sounds of fighting carried back to Bolin, and the little girl held onto him even tighter. Tai nodded to Bolin as he left the two of them, going back out to see that most of the equalists had regained their balance. As he ran forward he saw that the tank had moved, and he saw another one rumble past as well. Good distraction he absently thought.

A bola whizzed towards his chest, he ducked under it and flung his hand out, sending the culprit flying courtesy of the blast of wind to his stomach. The man cried out briefly before slamming against a dumpster, falling to the ground. A constant rain of grenades and bolas spun and bounced as the rest of the blockers moved at once. They skirted around his flanks, avoiding the sharp edged sword and attacking from the sides.

He kicked one of them back into his comrades, and he danced backwards, sweeping his sword from side to side. The slices of air it created whipped forward, the blockers ducked and weaved under the majority of these, returning with their bolas and canisters. As one his slices slammed into the gut of an unlucky blocker, and sent him hurtling out into the street, Tai quickly pushed a wall of rushing wind forwards, not enough to sweep his opponents off their feet, but enough to send the canisters sliding past their feet and out into the street, where they detonated into green and white clouds.

Two of them attacked at once, from both sides. He hissed as some of their jabs landed on his right side, managing to squeeze in between them before any more landed. He gave one of them a push, sending him off-balance, then he dropped and swept his leg out, tripping up the blocker. He gritted his teeth as the other's elbow dug painfully into his back, he pushed into the elbow and slid past it, he pointed his hand at the blocker and the wind roared as it sent him flying back, crashing into the chest of the lead blocker.

He heard the scrape of a boot on brick, and he looked up to see a blocker leaping down towards him, he didn't have enough time to dodge, and the man's boot crashed into his shoulder, sending Tai careening into the wall. He gasped at the pain of his nose breaking, and working on instinct he whipped the sword around, hearing it tear through cloth and leather. He froze for a second before turning around, and was secretly relieved to see that it only managed to make a long scratch across the man's chest. The equalist hovered there, seemingly frozen as well, Tai shook his head to clear the cloud of pain and wreathed his hand in flames, the man uttered a cry of surprise as the force of the punch sent him slamming into the opposite wall, landing on another unconscious blocker.

A iron vice closed around his wrist, and he gasped as his sword clattered to the ground. The lead blocker chuckled as he spun the boy around, planting a kick on his back that slammed him into the dumpster nearby. Tai's head spun and his vision swam as he rolled, barely missing a boot stomping down. He extended his arm to loose another blast of wind, when he felt an immense weight on his chest. The blocker leaned forwards, putting all his weight on the boot standing on the boy's chest. He bent forwards and hefted him up by the wrists, still keeping the massive pressure on.

He kneed the boy in the stomach, and Tai curled over a little as he felt the breath flow out of him as the kicks continued. His vision began to dim and his eyes fluttered, and he felt his head begin to droop. He noticed a small movement by the alley corner, and he saw Bolin place his palm on the wall with a fierce look. The leader kept working Tai over, not noticing the wall shuddered slightly.

A mote of dust puffed out of a spot above the dumpster. Bricks ground together as a column punched out of the wall, curving towards the leader as it slammed into his face. The man cried out once before falling silent as his back hit the dumpster on the opposite wall, and his masked head lolled. Bolin stepped out into the alleyway, with the little girl holding onto his hand, gasping a little as Tai groaned.

He reached a hand down to him, Tai grabbed it as firmly as he could, and Bolin hoisted him onto his feet. "Let's go."

* * *

Tai pushed himself away from Bolin and walked towards the double doors, one of which swung perpetually, the hinges squealed noisily the whole time. He leaned forward to peer into the dimly lit lobby, hoping to the spirits that no equalists were waiting for them. The little girl looked up at Bolin and swallowed nervously, she gripped his hand as hard as she could, and together they walked in after Tai. The bottom of the door had jagged edges, so Bolin picked her up and placed her down on the other side, before goin stepping in himself.

He made sure the girl was still holding onto his hand, and he took a few steps forward as Tai sat down on a empty seat nearby, resting for a bit. He gulped as he heard the sound of foot carrying towards the two of them, and he froze.

A head of short raven colored hair peered around the corner, and two amber colored eyes stared at the three of them for a moment, a grimace on her pale features and flames covering her hands. The eyes softened as they settled on the little girl trying to hide herself behind Bolin's leg, and Sensha ran around the corner towards them, arms outstretched. "Sari!"

The little girl beamed and unwrapped herself from the boy's stout legs, burying herself into Sensha's chest, tears streaming down her cheeks. Sensha stroked her hari as she tried to hold back the tears. "I'm glad you're _safe!" _she half-choked. She smiled at Bolin and Tai before looking back her little sister. "B-where were you?"

"O-o-on the b-bus home wh-when the-" the tears began to flow faster. "M-mr Po w-wa" she shuddered and buried herself deeper into Sensha, sobbing. Sensha cooed as she cupped her chin. "Shhh- it's okay you're safe." she reassured. The little girl nodded slowly and sniffed.

She chuckled as she turned her little sister around to look at Bolin. "Hey - you know who that _is?_" the little girl stopped her sniffing and peered up at Bolin, who smiled down at her. "Fire Ferret!" she exclaimed, laughing as she wrapped herself around his leg again. Tai couldn't help grinning at the little girl's display.

Sari tugged on his sleeve, and Bolin crouched down to her level. She stretched on her tip toes, and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Thank you." she whispered, before giggling.

Bolin laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh-heh! Just glad you're safe." he stopped taling as his collar shifted around for a moment, and Pabu poked his head out, yawning with a little squeak. He noticed the little girl and hopped onto her shoulder, tilting his head as he studied her. Sensha straightened and walked towards Bolin, and not skipping a heartbeat, gave him a hug. "I-I don't now what to say-" she stammered for a bit. Bolin responded by hugging her back and she nodded, accepting his response.

* * *

**A/N**

Dawwwwwww.

How heartwarming is that?

I actually kind of forgot that Sensha was supposed to have a little sister (and a big one too, but we'll get to that), well here she is.

This chapter is a sort of two parter, with next one leading on straight from where this one left off.

Don't forget to review and criticize guys!


	27. The Preparation, and The Downward Spiral

潮

* * *

Tai exhaled with relief as he straightened, standing up from the chair in the dimly lit lobby. Makei folded his arms together, and rubbed his chin. "So…tomorrow the fleet arrives?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah, we're meeting them on the docks in a few hours."

"Nice to know the Prince and his Cavalry are coming." Nisha noted.

"Got some cleaning up to do then." Makei turned to Boto. "Lieutenant, coming with us?"

Boto smirked and shook his head. "Can't do that sir," he nodded at Sensha and Sari. "They need an escort."

"Understood. Careful out there." Makei and Nisha left for the stairs in the hallway, leaving the five of them there.

"So – uh – I've got to get back." Bolin rubbed his neck as he stuck a hand in his pocket. Sensha smirked as she folded her arms. "Taking back the city huh?"

He shook his head. "Actually I've got a meeting with the _Prince_." He said in a hushed tone. She giggled and shook her head. "Just be careful.", he laughed and nodded. "Of course I will – Fire Ferrets never lose!" he joked.

He yelped as Sari clamped herself around his leg, nestling her cheek into his knee. "Thanks cuddly man." He blushed furiously as he reached down to pat her head, and very subtly tried to pry her away from his leg. Pabu licked the girls cheek before running up his leg, finding his spot on Bolin's shoulder.

Tai glanced at them. "Where will you go Sensha?" he asked. She grabbed Sari's hand as Boto stood next to them. "Grandma's, safest place." he nodded. "Okay." he turned to Bolin. "We should be getting back."

"Try to stay healthy, Tai." Boto smirked at him.

"I'm not banking on it." he replied, clapping him on the shoulder. He glanced at Sari and bent down to her level. "You make sure you find a sturdy box next time, alright?"

Sensha gave him a weird look, while her sister nodded, taking him seriously. She wrapped her hands around his neck. "Thanks grumpy."

She held onto Sensha's hand, tugging her towards the double doors. Boto shook his head in amusement as he followed them out, leaving Tai to frown.

Bolin pointed at himself. "Cuddly," he then swung his finger towards Tai, and leaned in close, dropping his voice to a whisper. "_Grumpy_." he chucked as he folded his arms over one another and waited for Tai to walk through the door and out into the street. The cold wind bit into them as it blew through the main road on it's lonesome. Everything was quiet, and unnaturally still, puncutated by far off screams or yells of fighting between the city's residents and their new ruling party. He didn't want these nights to last.

They stopped in the middle of the snow-covered road, seeing a lone figure walking towards them, a dull look in her normally bright green eyes. She just stared at the ground in front of her feet, not even realising that she was walking towards Bolin and Tai. She held a sheet of paper in one hand, and Bolin noticed she was limping slightly.

The two of them ran forward, making her jump a little when she looked up to see them approach. She didn't say anything at all. "A-Asami?" Bolin took a few steps forwards and cautiously placed a hand on her shoulder, worry evident.

She stared back down at the ground again. "Hey."

"Are you okay?" Tai asked, standing next to Bolin.

Asami gave them an unconvincing nod, and gasped a little as she accidentally put weight on her injured leg, her eyes flashed as she quickly clamped down on it, putting on the appearance that she was fine. "Yeah." she moved her shoulder a little under Bolin's touch, not quite wanting to shirk away from it. She saw the looks they both gave her, ones that screamed worry and concern. "I'm fine, guys." she reaffirmed.

Tai folded his arms across one another, and tilted his head, the universal phrase for 'sure I believe you'. He was smart enough not to dispute it though. "What'd you find?"

She looked down at the creased and ripped piece of paper she was holding. She opened her palm and held it out for them to see. "A map of other equalist strongholds." she said, her tone cold and business-like, a tactic she almost always resorted to when conflicted or feeling terrible.

He nodded. And opened his mouth to talk when Bolin shook her shoulder gently to bring her attention to him. "Forget about that! Asami are _you _alright?" he asked bluntly, not bothering with delicacy or dancing around the issue. Pabu took this opportunity to wriggle out of his collar and hop onto her shoulder, licking the spot where her tears had dried. She only just fought to urge to lose it right there. "N-" she took a deep breath and steeled her gaze, giving a firm nod. "I'm fine. We'll talk about it when we get back. Okay?"

Bolin and Tai both knew that last part wasn't a suggestion or question, it was more or less a veiled threat of bodily harm if they kept prying. He took his hand off of her shoulder and nodded, smiling warmly. "Okay."

Tai nodded and looked at their surroundings, pressing his lips together as the lonely wind continued to howl depressingly. "We'd better get going. The other two should be back by now." he shrugged. "I hope."

She nodded and turned away from them, she accidentally used her right foot first and stumbled, flailing her arms for balance. Immediately Bolin looped one of her arms around the crest of his shoulders, grinning good naturedly. She sighed and nodded, hanging her head as a way to accept his help. "Thanks." she whispered.

He kept close to the two of them, not straying too far ahead as he led towards the dark little alley he and Bolin came from. Suddenly he stopped and turned around, looking at the street corner. "We can't go back the same way." he didn't wait for any of them to speak up when he walked past them towards the corner, and pressed his back up against the nearby building's wall before peering around it.

He nodded and the two of them followed at a slow pace courtesy of Asami's injured state, the three of them being the only thing moving among the abandoned cars and silent snow of Avatar Road, their footsteps the only thing challenging the howl of the very early morning.

* * *

_Yue Bay, 15 miles from Republic City._

"Has our reply been sent?" Iroh turned away from the observation windows of the bridge, clasping his gloved hands behind his back.

The young man in front of him saluted crisply, then nodded his head. "It has sir, but it's a very small chance that they'll be able to send one back."

Iroh rubbed his chin as he glanced at the rolled up map nearby. "Yes... the occupiers would have taken centers of government the first chance they got. Hoshi!" a young woman with brown skin and large blue eyes turned her chair around, and nodded. "ETA on arrival?"

She touched a finger to her headset as she fiddled with a few dials, "one hour out sir." she confirmed.

Frowning at the utter _lack_ of communications they were recieving from command, he was extremely disturbed by the fact that his battlegroup, his _people_, were sailing blind into an unknown situation. It wasn't the lay of the land he was worried about, there were hundreds of maps detailing Republic City, he just had to ask and he would be handed one. What he _was_ worried about was the completely unknown enemy they were about to meet, their enigmatic masked leader, and that they the world's greatest inventor under their thumb.

But command _insisted_ that it was just a bunch of undisciplined terrorists, and of course since they didn't like having the 'Prince' hang around they sent him and his fleet off to investigate Tenzin's claims.

He found that he was pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

He walked over to the bench and unrolled the map, with Republic City laying at it's center. The Fire Nation archipelago dominated the western side of the map, only the landmass the United Republic sat on was visible, with the rest of the Earth Kingdom lands not visible. Their current position was marked with a ink dot, the latest in a long trail that snaked around the Republic's western coastline to their anchorage at Green Harbour.

Currently his battlegroup lay between Red Sand Island and the coastline of the mainland, a good fifteen miles from the entrance to Inner Yue Bay. He settled his finger on the island, tapping as he worked out replenishment points and, if the worst came to worst, a regroup position in case the fleet was severely damaged.

He didn't think that was likely to happen, but even so he kept his options open. "Hoshi, get _Monitor _on the line, Captain Serisa."

She nodded and swung to face the large switch board in front of her, transferring a few of the wires from the row marked Fleetwide, to the a narrower row marked Monitor. After a few seconds of fiddling with a few knobs placed around the edges of the switch board, she flicked switch and gave a thumbs up to the general. Iroh nodded and walked over to the commander's chair, picking up the receiver mounted on the panel next to it, and brought it to his lips. A hard female voice came in on the loud speakers in the bridge. "Yes General?"

His finger tapped on a point on the east side of Red Sand. "Disband from the battlegroup and sail to the coordinates I'm sending you," he nodded to a male telegraph operator, who went to work, sending the desired coordinates.

"Sir-" the voice began to argue.

Iroh sighed. "I need the _Monitor _stationed there in case we run into any trouble in the harbour, we don't know what the enemy can accomplish, and I'll need you to stay back and relay a message to the second wave of reinforcements."

"U-" the voice paused, and Iroh heard nothing but background static for a few seconds. "- understood sir. With all due respect you make it sound like you're sailing into a trap." the voice said in a low tone. He looked at the floor for a moment, trying not to think about the worst thing that could happen to him and his men. He heard her voice again. "Be careful _sir_."

He smiled to himself, knowing her reasons for not wanting to leave him and the rest behind. She absolutely hated running away, from anything, and he remembered the past few times he had to bail her out for that reason.

Iroh shook those thoughts away, otherwise they would eventually turn to the dark events that caused them. He looked up as the reinforced door to the bridge swung open noisily, allowing a Water Tribe man, wearing a crisply pressed ocean blue uniform, to step through, letting his smugness pervade the entire room. His haughty eyes met his, and they seemed to delight in the unpleasantness he was about to bring to Iroh. He snapped off an incredibly quick, yet incredibly lazy salute, giving him a little smile as well. "General, how are things?"

He fought the urge to roll his eyes. "I don't have a lot of time Mr Kerisa- what is it?" he said, cutting through to the real reason the slimy weasel-snake was here.

"I just wanted to take the time to congratulate you and your crew for taking care of such a fine investment." he replied, his eyes wandering to find a lovely brown haired radio operator seated to his left. She shifted uncomfortably as her blue eyes darted around the room for something else to look at, before she turned back to her work.

He was really fighting the urge to slog him one for that. He smiled and bowed rigidly. "Your thanks is welcome sir, we're honored to have you as representative for your father. How have you been finding things?"

Kerisa junior leaned lazily against the arm of the captain's chair, absently picking at a few of his fingernails. "Wellllll..." he started, further worsening the headache about to take root in Iroh's head as he predicted the onslaught of complaints, niggles and nitpicking he was about to face.

He sighed with relief as the door swung open again, and a barrel chested green-eyed man stepped through, giving Kerisa junior the same look he gave when scraping some scum off of his boots. Immediately the young Water Tribe man seemed to deflate, and he gulped visibly as the older, grizzled sea-man passed him, looking straight at Iroh. He came to a stop and saluted. "Sir, earthbenders across the fleet are reporting shortages of material for their ordinance. Gunny's asking for permission to have access to spare galley supplies."

The general nodded, glad that the overstocking of dinner dishes could come into use. And he finally found a use for that shipment of clay-ware vases a group of admirers sent him from Ba Sing Se. "See to it that they get them, Commander."

The Commander inclined his head and turned to Kerisa Junior. "Sir I must apologize for this. We need to commandeer any and all earthware products or metal you brought with you."

The young man went livid. "You can't do thi-" he was interrupted by the sound of something hollow shattering as it was dropped to the floor. A tall man wearing segmented grey armor poked his head through the door, looking at the Commander and Iroh with an apologetic face. "Sorry for the disturbance, these things are _heavy_."

Another voice interrupted him. "Are you crazy? You can't just stick your head through and say sorry to the Prince and Commander Lai To!" The grizzled older man rolled his eyes as he heard the two of them carry on, and the bridge crew hid looks of amusement from him and Iroh.

"I was just sayi-" Iroh arched an eyebrow in amusement at the two of them, wondering how he was stuck with this crew again. Not that he saw it as a bad thing.

"What? You were saying what?"

"Never mind!" the young marine's voice hissed loudly. A few moments later, after Iroh had stopped having to contain fits of laughter, his head popped back through the open hatch. "We'll be leaving now."

The hatch locked back into place, leaving the bridge silent for a moment. Iroh glanced at Kerisa junior, whose face was almost ash colored. Which he thought was impressive for someone with brown skin. That gray changed back to brown, then to almost a shade of red as he began to shake with ill-contained indignance. "My father will hear about th-"

Iroh waved a hand at him, shutting the brat up immediately. "My apologies Mr Kerisa, I'm afraid we're too far away from any land bound stations that can reach the Northern Water Tribe." he shrugged. "There is nothing I can do sir."

He noticed Commander Lai To tapping his watch. He nodded to him, then looked at Kerisa Junior. "If you excuse me, I have a meeting with the other captains in ten minutes." he fished a finely made golden pocket-watch out of his pocket, making sure he would have enough time to get there. He walked towards the door. "XO has the bridge!" he loudly stated, before stepping into the hallway, sweeping a few fragments of a excessively detailed vase aside with his foot.

* * *

_Unknown Prison Complex._

She knelt there, her head bowed as she looked down at the bundle of joy in her arms with a strained smile, trying to hold back the tears welling in her eyes. She stroked his bald head, taking solace that they didn't take him from her.

A child should be with his mother, that _monster_ said. She leant back against the wall, singing quietly to the sleeping child in her arms. She stopped herself from looking at the empty cells across from hers. The kid's cells.

A small cry rose from Rohan, and she quickly stroked his cheek to calm him down, to calm _herself_ down as well. She couldn't stop the panic welling up when she saw the looks of her children as they were led away by _him_. Tenzin had already been taken from her and the children, and she remembered feeling hollow when they came for him, most likely wanting information about the city's secrets. She suppressed a sigh as she stood up, gently rocking Rohan in her arms, and made her way to the barred window set into the thick metal door to her cell. She noticed that her equalist guard had disappeared, and she wasn't sure what to make of that.

Another cry, this time a little louder as a door opened somewhere in the cell-lined hallway outside her cell. The noise it made crashed and echoed everywhere, and Rohan woke up with a piercing cry. She shooshed him as the sound of someone being dragged came closer and closer. She instinctively backed away from the door as two chi blockers dragging someone between them walked past her cell's bars. She returned to her position near the wall, looking up to see someone wearing dark grey armor being thrown into the cell opposite hers, their head covered with a dirty hessian sack.

One of the blockers loosed a vicious kick at their stomach, and blocked Pema's view of them as they ripped the sack off of their head, and walked out of the cell, slamming the door shut and locking it. The armored woman sat up and took a few deep breaths, and her minty green eyes began flashing from side to side as she took note of her surroundings.

"Lin?" Pema sidled up to the bars of her cell, relieved to see a familiar face. She honestly felt more surprised then she should have, having witnessed Lin's capture first hand. An instinctive question died on her lips, it was obvious what they had done to the proud metal bender. They couldn't have seriously thought that a metal cell could hold one of the city's finest metalbenders, unless they... Lin seemed to know what she was thinking, and bowed her head.

"They've already been...?" ferocity and grief fought for control in her quiet words.

Pema nodded, not trusting that she would be strong enough to say out what loud what happened. The former chief's sigh echoed down the cell-lined hall. Rohan cried again and Pema stroked his head again.

Lin spoke up again, her voice hard and filled with self-loathing. "How?"

She closed her eyes, seeing flashes of looming airships and feeling the stinging rain against her face as she held onto Rohan and the elder children, fear etched all over them as Tenzin guided them through the elements to get away from the airships.

"They were too fast." she said, the simplicity of that sentence could never convey the primal feeling of being hunted down, or the sick feeling that grew in the pit of her stomach as she watched those bloated machines loom closer and closer, and all the while the children kept looking to her for reassurance that could never come.

That seemed to satisfy Lin, who tucked her head against her chest as she leaned against the wall, leaving the two of them to their own thoughts. But Pema wasn't done, she had to say something. "Lin, what you did for the-"

"Didn't work." she said bitterly, looking at her directly, guilt and self-loathing mixing together in her eyes. She moved back into the shadows of her cell, but it didn't take much for Pema to see the bitter twist of her lips.

"But you still did it." she said, Lin was quiet as Pema said what she felt she needed to. "I owe you a _lot_, Lin. More than I could possibly ever give you." there was more, so much more she wanted to say to her, like how she never hated the earth bender, never wanted to pick on her for getting Tenzin in the end, she just wanted to thank her, to gush about how strong she was compared to herself. But she knew Lin well enough to leave those words unspoken, she didn't want apologies or endless praise.

So she said the only words the Lin would care for. "Thank you." she finished, swaying instinctively to keep Rohan happy and content.

Her own heartbeats took forever to pass, and the ensuing silence felt more like hours rather than seconds. The metalbender lifted her head, a barely-there smile on her dirt encrusted face. "Thank you, Pema." she said in a soft voice.

They both fell quiet, and Pema's thoughts immediately turned to more urgent things, like how Rohan would need to be changed soon, like how he would need to be fed, but she had neither of such things on her.

Rohan gripped her pinky and began pulling, bringing a smile to the mother's lips as she became wrapped up in caring for her newest child.

The sound of a heavy door being flung open drew her attention away from Rohan. She turned her back towards the bars in a bid to protect Rohan from whoever was walking down the cell-lined hallway. She waited in grim anticipation for the door to be flung open, and for her or Rohan to be taken away from one another. She narrowed her eyes, desperately remembering all of those martial arts lessons all air disciples were taught. She couldn't airbend, but she could still put up a fight if she had to.

The opening of Lin's door surprised her, and the urge to look overwhelmed her. A hooded young man with piercing gray eyes pushed her out of the door and into the hallway, and Pema's neck crawled when she saw the two wickedly curved swords on his back, the dull black metal gleaming dully as what little light there shone on their surface.

She fought the rising urge to start sobbing again, which was quickly quashed when she saw the determined look in Lin's eyes, and the grit in her teeth as she was led away to spirits know where.

Pema bowed her head as the heavy door swung shut with a clang, driving home how serious the situation was.

* * *

_The 'City'._

Bolin looked up from the bucket of soapy water Pabu was paddling around in, his fur was matted down and he sneezed a bubble out. He spun his furry friend around and scrubbed his belly much to Pabu's protests. The ferret tried to duck under water, but Bolin dragged him back up, kicking and what sounded like screaming in ferret speak. He glanced up at the sky through the slit, in time to see yet another airship float over on the night time wind, searching the streets below for 'dissidents' as they were now coming to be known as.

Pabu seemed to sag in defeat, and Bolin grinned as he ran the cloth under his buddy's belly, he wringed it for a moment and before Pabu was able to wriggle away he caught him, and Pabu uttered a low squeak as he floated on his back, not caring anymore. He really needed it after the past few days, he had to be looking presentable for General Iroh's arrival, which was only one night away from their meeting point.

After a few more minutes he plucked Pabu out of the water by the scruff of his neck and wrapped him in a towel nearby, minimally covered with a few dirty marks. The little guy squeaked appreciatively as he nestled into the warmth of his cloth cocoon, enjoying the attention Bolin was laying on him. With a few more rubs and wrings he was finished and unwrapped the towel from Pabu, who hopped onto his shoulder and shook from side to side, he uttered a surprised cry when his fur exploded outwards.

Bolin rubbed his head with a finger as he laid the towel down and walked over to a ramshackle wall nearby, sitting down and leaning against it as he watched Tai leap and run about in his training.

His friend swept his feet in several arcs in front of him, knocking down an invisible enemy succesive gusts of air, he followed up by doing a short running leap, extending his open palm and blasting a stream of wind straight at where the enemy's head would be. Next he twirled and rolled backwards, ducking under the sweep of a invisible blade and extending his palm up, blasting a short gust before popping up and twirling around the enemy's side to his exposed back. A stronger blast, and the enemy would have been sent flying and would be out cold from the impact. He danced backwards, putting his hands on his knees as he leant forward, slightly out of breath.

He drew his sword as he straightened, holding it tipped forward with both hands. He breathed in and out for a few moments as he imagined a dark clothed figure facing him, holding nothing in his gloved hands. He stiffened when he saw a flash of white surface in the darkness of the hood, and suddenly, standing there in front of him was Amon.

The grim white mask seemed to shake as if the man behind it was laughing softly. He gritted his teeth and stalked forwards, keeping both eyes trained on him. The terrorist held up one hand as an invitation for him to attack, putting the other behind his back.

He went to slash from the side, but twisted the blade back towards himself and repeated the action from the opposite side, he ducked under a kick, putting his free hand on the terrorist's thigh and letting fly with a blast of wind, knocking him off-balance. He twirled and slashed, building up speed and momentum until he was but a blur to Bolin, punctuated by flashes of gritted teeth and blasts of wind and flame.

He found it dizzying to even try to follow his movements now and was about to stop when suddenly the boy went into one final spin, unleashing a massive ring of fire that billowed outwards from him. Bolin was about to raise a earth wall to block it when the flames died down, leaving a ring of scorched floor around the boy, whose chest heaved as he held his blade loosely in one hand.

Bolin arched an eyebrow and moved towards him. "You... alright dude?"

As he moved a little closer, the boy swallowed and nodded his head, still breathing heavily. "Y-yeah," he bobbed his head to reassure Bolin. "I'm fine."

He heard a scraping noise nearby, and saw Asami sitting on that rickety crate she seemed to favour, her face obscured by her long hair. He frowned when he saw the single tear drop to the ground between her feet. He looked at Tai for a moment, who smiled apologetically and walked towards their now-smoldering campfire towards his rolled up long coat.

Pabu tilted his head and squeaked as he tried to see what his owner was looking at. After a few seconds the ferret was torn between skittering over to her shoulder or diving back underwater at the oncoming storm, mirroring Bolin's own thinking about the matter.

Bolin stood up, and Pabu skittered onto his shoulder, giving him a determined squeak. He stuck his hands in his pockets and nonchalanty walked in a direct and straight line towards her, whistling as much as he could to stay inconspicious.

That feel through when she stared straight at him with a weird look, then looked away and to the floor, studiously trying to stop him from catching her eye. "You okay Asami?"

She tried to stop the sniff coming, but it came through anyway, and it sounded like a dying walrus-poodle instead. A little smile tugged at Bolin's lips as he sat down on the floor next to her box. He didn't say anything, choosing to wait until she was ready to talk herself.

"Are you still there Bolin?" he heard a quiet voice say from underneath the long curtain of hair.

"Still am." he replied, looking up to see if she those tears had stopped dropping. They hadn't.

Complete silence followed, the only sound being Asami's quiet attempts to stop the sobs. He sighed. "Are you seriously okay?"

As if to answer his question, she stared blankly at the electro-gauntlet covering her right hand, and Bolin noticed that it smelled like... burnt jerky? He didn't know where she had disappeared to back in the park, but now that he thought about it he saw that she seemed to be even more distant then she recently had been. He reached hand towards her, aiming to support "Asam-"

"Please. Don't, Bolin." she warned in a quiet, broken voice. She looked away from him and hugged herself. "I need to be alone." she whispered.

Without warning Pabu stepped in, and hopped onto her shoulder without warning, and rubbed himself against her neck, purring the whole time. The ferrets antics brought a small amount of cheer to her eyes, and the sniffing stopped momentarily, and the tears slowed as Pabu distracted her from her troubles.

She found herself reaching a hand to scratch his side, which Pabu appreciated immensely, showing it by stamping out a pattern on her shoulder.

Bolin smiled at his little buddy's display, and looked at her. "Nothing like him is there?" he was pleasantly surprised when a little giggle came out of her.

Asami lightened up and brushed her hair to the side, letting him see her face in full. "There isn't." she agreed. She struggled with something before glancing at him. "I'm sorry for doing this Bolin, you've been really patient with me." her voice was apologetic and guilt filled.

And he wasn't quite sure how to deal with that. So he responded with a elegant stammer and flushing cheeks. "Oh uh, not- it's fi- I mean reall- Can you stop me now?" he pleaded, seriously wanting his mouth to shut up.

"Stop Bolin I _command you_." her face began to visibly brighten, and Bolin was glad that his verbal flailing around managed to accomplish something.

He spotted a crate nearby and held up a finger. "One sec' please." he quickly ran to it and dragged it back to her. He plucked Pabu from his spot on her shoulder and sat down, holding him up by the forepaws. "_Pabu thinks Asami should stop being so down_." he said out of the corner of his mouth in a ridiculously cutesy voice, Pabu wasn't impressed, and if he had a voice, it would be masculine and incredibly deep.

She shook her head in amusement, and found herself grinning at his display. She cleared her throat and leaned in closer. "Is that so mr Ferret?" she asked the incredibly wise and awesome Pabu.

Bolin moved his head up and down. "_Why of course I do! If I may say you loo-_ hey they're back?" he looked over at one of the side tunnels, seeing the two of them walking side by side, in equalist uniforms.

"Hate to interrupt you there but the Avatar and your brother have returned." They both turned to see Gommu standing nearby, grinning inanely as he renewed his grip on a _massive_ pot of hobo cuisine.

He reluctantly left her sitting there on that crate, smiling apologetically. He pressed the tips of his index fingers together anxiously as he tried to think of something he could do to solve the tension between the three of them. _Something _had to be done certain, immediately he shied away from those thoughts, resolving that his brother could handle it.

He was glad she smiled though, she needed it.

Bolin's stomach rumbled at the mere thought of the stuff. He clapped his hands together and bowed in respect and admiration. "We thank you for this fine dish sir."

Gommu inclined his head and showed his off-angle teeth and moved past him, towards a small round table nearby, which Bolin noticed was actually a tree stump the closer he came. But what a _beateous _tree stump he thought it was. He sat down on one of the stools sitting around it, and rubbed his hands together as Gommu set the large steaming pot down, producing a metal ladle from his worn old belt. He made smacking noises with his lips as the luxuriously decadent smell of his concoction wafted into his nostrils, with Bolin doing the same when it carried over to him.

He shrank away a little when the three of them joined him and Gommu, feeling like he was caught on the highway in front of a sato truck. He grabbed the wooden spoon laying nearby and fed some of the gruel into it, bringing it up to his mouth. As he swished it around in his mouth his taste buds exploded at the absolutely mind blowing deliciousness, and he stared at Gommu in wonder. "_Mmmm_. This is the best tasting street-gruel I've had! Seriously!"

The hobo inclined his head as Korra and Mako began to dig into theirs as well. "Culled it from the finest dumpsters!"

At that mentioning he watched a green tinge grow over Asami's pale skin, she blanched and, when the hobo had his back turned, dropped her bowl onto the ground, which Pabu immediately ran for and practically dived into it.

Bolin smiled apologetically at her as Tai approached the table, his long coat slung over his shoulder. "What's the news?" he asked, taking the bowl offered by Gommu, sniffing at it experimentally.

Korra answered with her mouth full. "Jusht shum reconniashiance." she gulped the gruel down, and smirked.

He nodded. "Uh huh." he turned to Mako. "English please?" he asked, ignoring the dirty look the Avatar was giving him.

Mako swirled his gruel around. "What she said. Reconnaissance."

That reminded him. "Asami didn't you have that map?" he asked, she nodded stiffly and took a rolled up piece of paper out of her breast pocket, unfurling it to show a map of the streets, with equalist symbols marked on several buildings. "It's a map of their major strongholds and armories." she explained.

"Good job. But we've got something even better," Mako gestured and Korra took another sheet of paper out of a pocket on the uniform, handing it to him. He held it up for everyone to see, letting the paper unroll. "Amon's scheduled 'cleansing' routes. He's gonna be at Air Temple Island tomorrow."

Asami nodded stiffly, "Yeah. Nice job."

Mako's face fell as he realized what he had done. "Wait Asami-"

She held up a hand as she stood up and walked away from the table. He slumped forwards and covered his face with a palm, growling in frustration. Korra gave him a concerned look, rubbing his shoulder with a gentle hand, while Tai and Bolin watched as Asami disappeared into one of the shacks nearby.

* * *

_Unknown Prison Complex._

Another punch, and she groaned a little. She hung her head, not having the strength to keep it upright _while_ resisting their questions. A spark of anger flared in her each time another bruise appeared, and her half-closed eyes flashed dangerously at the masked blocker standing watch near the door, watching impassively as another fist flew into her side. That one made her cough, and she felt blood on her lips.

That familiar blackness began to consume her again when she stared forlornly at the metal walls in the dark little room, caught on how easily she could get out of here, _if_ she had her bending she thought bitterly. No, her mother didn't raise her to be a quitter, she _would _get out of here, just as soon as the-

"Where is the Avatar?" the impossibly deep, gravelly voice said, punctuated by a rough palm to her stomach, making a soft groan escape her parched lips. Her breathing was heavy as she felt the chains fixed to the ceiling sway back and forth, carrying her with them. She glanced to her side, noticing just how many new cuts and bruises had appeared on her bare, pale arms. It reminded her of those _brutal_ training sessions mother put her through, bringing a touch of a smile to her lips.

The white mask tilted slightly for an instant, before she felt another fist, this time to her side. She gasped as her side erupted in pain, quickly she bit down on her tongue, not wanting to give them any satisfaction or show weakness in front of the terrorist leader.

"I can stop this. If you tell me where the Avatar is hiding." the white mask calmly said, almost in contrast to the dried and fresh blood on his knuckles.

She responded by swishing around some of the blood in her mouth, and spat at him. The dirty red-colored glob smacked onto the mask's cheek, sliding down the gold section a little, leaving a messy and dark trail behind it.

Lin gritted her teeth. "Did- I stutter?... _Never_." it hurt to laugh, but she did it anyway. Might as well have some fun while she was _hanging _around. It made her laugh even more when she remembered where she picked up the horrible sense of humor from, and it brought a smile to her lips again when she remembered his kind and gentle face, and that infernal boomerang she loved playing with.

The mask shook from side to side slightly, and her laughing was interrupted by a flurry of punches to her sides and stomachs, leaving her breathing heavily again and her vision dimming a little. She pressed her lips together as she felt more blood in her mouth.

Amon seemed to know what she was doing, and another brutal punch to her stomach made her mouth fly open, and blood dribbled out and splattered onto the slick floor at his feet. She felt light headed, and heard a ringing in her ears as he grabbed her chin with a gentle hand, making her look down at him.

"Even you aren't made of iron, Ms. Bei Fong." The masked leaned in closer, and she absently noted that it was _cream_ color, not a _white_ color. "I won't ask again. Where is the Avatar?"

The vestiges of a smirk appeared on her features. "I-" she coughed once, "don't-" she coughed again, racking her body with pain. She gritted her teeth, "-repeat _myself_."

"Pity." He grabbed her feet and pushed, making the rusty chains rattle noisily as she rose up into the air a little, the momentum shifted, and she found herself swinging back down at a fast speed. Amon slammed a fist into her gut, and this time she coughed out a spray of blood, and began to breathe heavily again, taking in great gulps of air to stop from blacking out.

Her head swam as the chains connected to the chafing manacles stopped their motion, and she was hanging there again, eyes screwed shut from the pain blooming outwards from her stomach. Worse has been done to her, and she held onto that thought, the only thing that made her keep alert and conscious.

"You seem a bit weary, would you like to rest?" the mask haughtily asked.

She growled in response, and he shook his head as a knock came on the heavy iron door behind him. Amon turned as the guard opened the slide, then pulled the door open, admitting a hooded young man with piercing grey eyes, similar to someone she knew.

Lin concentrated on that fact as much as possible, using the brief rest given from Amon talking with him to try and gather her strength. She took in massive amounts of air, feeling a little clearer when the young man nodded and left the room again, and the heavy door swung shut behind him, signalling that they were about to begin again.

"You are trying my patience." Amon began to circle around her, making each step loud and known. She gritted her teeth, wishing she could spin around to see what he was going to do. A swift kick to the back of her knee, and Lin failed to contain the sharp cry that came out, instantly biting down on her tongue to let nothing else through. She felt blood underneath her teeth.

"Very well." the cold voice behind her said. She blinked a tear away and closed her eyes, mouthing the words that came to mind. The earth is - she bit down again at another punch to her side - strong, the earth - her vision dimmed as her side began to numb - unbreakab - she cried out as her eyes narrowed - le, it's -

The next kick sent her swinging from side to side, and the chains squealed as their supports loosened a little from the ceiling. She saw the increasing attraction of blacking out there and then, but her eyes flashed dangerously as she set her mouth in a determined line.

A punch to her stomach made her curl a little in reflex, but her face stayed the same - dependable!

Her blood went cold as she heard the voice growl in frustration and loose another assault on her battered body. Immediately a image of Tenzin and his family came up, and she held onto it with as much strength as she had, clinging to it as the blows came faster and crueler with each passing second.

The image went away with a blinding shock of pain, and she couldn't help the scream that escaped her. She bit down on her tongue even further, only stopping when she knew the damage would be too much for it. A punch to her spine and she shivered in response, too pain-wracked to even respond any more. Her throat felt raw, and she hung her head, offering only infuriating silence to the mask.

Finally, a hour or even a day later she wasn't sure, the blows ceased, long after her sides numbed over, and she could feel nothing. She noticed Amon's chest was heaving slightly as he walked away from her, gesturing to unseen guards outside. A trio of them, led by the hooded young man, snapped open the manacles, and they catched her roughly as she fell. She couldn't even respond as they dragged her out of there, and into the cell line hallway.

She hoped Pema wouldn't be seeing this.

* * *

_1 Mile out from Republic City._

"All fleet Captains! Divert Waterbenders to clearing this fog!" he placed the receiver back on it's hook, and walked over to Hoshi's station. "Hear anyone out there?" he asked.

She shook her head sadly, and quickly wiped off the anxious look on her face, putting on a brave front. "There's no- I can't anything sir." he clapped a hand on her shoulder before turning around and standing in front of his chair, glancing at the loudspeakers as voices continued to spill from them.

"Confirmed, diverting Waterben-"

"- They're currently plugging leaks righ-"

"- Ready General, on your word."

He stepped out onto the observation platform just outside the bridge's windows, scowling as he noticed the distinct lack of spherical shapes that should be hovering over the city.

Alright, this definitely was a trap.

He grimaced as the fog around the ships cleared up slightly, showing abandoned and sinking ships around them, some were pleasure yachts, while others were police gunboats, his blood went cold for a second when he saw a broken in half hulk, with the red cross painted on it's sides. Several bodies floated around it.

It was eerily quiet as the fleet cautiously advanced further into the harbour, reaching the split off in front of the central island. He headed back inside, snatching up the reciever and bringing to his mouth. "Firebenders, duty stations! Five minutes until contact!"

He placed it back down, and was about to look at the map until a strange keening sound reached his ears. Arching an eyebrow he realized it was coming from outside, and walked onto the observation platform. "Something's not right." he murmured. His eyes widened as the keening noise grew louder, as he recognised the sound of propellers.

The first plane broke cloud cover, going into a nosedive as it released the torpedo hanging from it's belly. The ship rolled as the waves went wild, and he looked to see a massive detonation rip apart the port side of the _Agni_, more detonations rang out from the other ships, and his blood went cold as more and more planes continued to break cover, forming into a massive swarm to attack the fleet.

* * *

潮


	28. The Sinking, and The Counter Attack

潮

* * *

They gaped as the swarm of black blurs descended upon Iroh's battlegroup, not believing that the great and mighty ships were being felled by things not even _half_ the size of them. Tai's knuckles went white as he gripped the rails, panic welling up inside as he watched the fleet begin to burn.

No reinforcements would be coming. And Amon would win.

He narrowed his eyes as he shook those thoughts, not wanting to know about them. It wouldn't come to that.

A squeak drew him to glance at Bolin, whose eyes were wide as they registered what has happening a few hundred meters away.

"Korra!" she whipped towards him, eyes wide. He walked towards the edge of the concrete pier, taking the folded glider off of his back, he shook it loose as it as he held a finger out to check how strong the winds were. "I'll glide out and get as many of them ashore as I can!"

She nodded, catching his meaning. "I'll help."

Mako was frantically looking around himself, angry at how useless he felt right now. All he could do was show worry for Korra. Bolin and Asami weren't doing much better.

Tai gave them all a quick salute and went for a running leap over the water, blasting a stream of wind onto the surface of the water to lift him up, giving him time to fold out the wings on his glider. He blasted another stream behind him to gain speed, and soon enough he was skimming just above the turbulent waves, trying to make himself as small a target as possible against those planes.

Below, a stream of barely noticeable bubbles mirrored his flight, signalling to him where Korra was. As they approached one of the burning ships on the outskirt of the fleet, the trail of bubbles turned into a different direction, heading directly for a ship at the center of the formation. He didn't know why until he squinted, noticing the red clothed figure on top of it's conning tower.

A wave larger then the others crashed nearby, soaking his entire body with spray and blinding him a little. He shook it off as he angled towards the stern of a tipping ship nearby, small rowboats were being lowered over it's sides, and he saw groups of people being covered in shifting spheres of water dive under the waves, disappearing from sight. The smell of burnt meat assailed his nostrils as he flew too close to a burning con tower, and he quickly peeled away from it, wanting to get away from the horrid smell. A strangled yell made him turn his head, and he saw someone dangling from a platform on the side of the ship, his grip quickly weakening.

He banked towards the sailor, picking up speed as he lost his grip and started to drop towards the raging waves beneath. As he positioned the glider just above the waves, he zoomed forward, and the sailor grabbed his legs roughly, holding on tight as Tai immediately found himself struggling to keep aloft. He spotted a boat nearby, being battered and shifted around by the waves, he glided towards it, and the man let go, dropping into the water near the boat's side.

A frustrated growl escaped him as he realised he wouldn't be able to save anyone, let alone carry them to safety. A keening noise made him look up to see the burning nose a black plane crashing towards him, he quickly spun to the side, only to be clipped by the wing tearing off the side of the plane's fuselage. He was sent tumbling towards the crashing waves, but righted himself just as he met the water's surface, using a blast of air to get back into the air and on the move.

The metal of the ship nearby groaned as it began to buckle and tear all across the structure. His eyes widened as another bomb was dropped directly towards it's twisted and gnarled deck, it detonated, further pulverising the metal until not even the spirits themselves could hold the ship together. With one final groan it broke apart, and he spotted pieces of shrapnel shooting towards him, only seeing them from the burning trails they left through the air behind them. He twisted and weaved through them, gasping when a particularly large one sliced through his shoulder, luckily only leaving a shallow gash. He gritted his teeth as the salt from the spray all around him quickly got into the fresh wound, making it sting even more.

He guided the glider into a U turn, facing the ship where he last Korra swimming towards. He glided over the deck, looking down to spot any sign of her. A flash of movement caught his eye, and he focused on the ships crows nest, seeing the red clothed figure being propelled over the rail by an explosion, and sent tumbling into the water. He immediately pulled the glider into a nosedive, racing to catch him before he hit the water. But as he descended past the smooth flank of the battleship, he heard a rumble underneath the water, and the section closest to him squealed as it burst open, and water began to rush in, mingling with the force of the explosion billowing out.

A yelp left him as he used a massive gust of air to dodge, and was sent into a tumble from the pressure wave hitting. As his world spun, he saw the red clothed figure drop under the waves, and he immediately righted himself, zooming over to the spot.

Nothing, not even a trail of bubbles indicating air escaping the man's lungs.

The sound of approaching propellers made him look up in time to see a plane tearing straight for him, he quickly glided out of the way, and the force of it's impact into the tortured ship's side was strong enough to pluck him out of the air and into the water. He gasped for air as sea water quickly rushed into his lungs, making him cough and sputter as he fought to stay above-water, his eyes widened as the broken and torn fuselage of the equalist aircraft exploded with massive force, enough to send the ship rolling onto it's opposite side.

He held his breath and ducked under the surface of the water, fully panicking when he found himself completely helpless. A hand grabbed his collar and dragged him upwards, and he opened his eyes as his head broke the surface, seeing Korra's face nearby, breathing heavily as she stared at the broken battleship with undisguised horror.

Next to him the red clothed man was floating as well, shock and defeat clear in his golden eyes. The tattered edge of his glider caught his eye, and he grabbed the shaft to stop it from floating away to join the other driftwood and waterlogged metal.

The man was breathing heavily as he glanced at the soaking wet air bender, a strange look surfacing in his eyes before it was quickly suppressed and replaced with a professional look instead. "I saw you flying over. You- you did all you could." he took a deep breath and found himself staring at the once proud 3rd division battlegroup, his home away from home of many years, and a place where he had many friends. "I failed them all."

Finally having enough air to function properly the boy shook his head. "No you didn't. I saw a few lifeboats on the other side of the fleet, even the equalists wouldn't target them." He knew that wouldn't be enough to completely reassure the man, so he turned to Korra. "Did you see any waterbenders below the surface?"

She stared at him for a few seconds as the shock still coursed through her. She nodded slowly. "A-a couple."

Tai was about to ask something else when the sound of a boat's motor reached their ears. His skin crawled when he saw a host of black painted speed boats skimming across the waves towards the burning fleet, partially obscured by the heavy fog that clung to the skin of the water.

Korra's eyes widened for a instant, before she looked at the general. "We need to get you out of here General."

Immediately his eyes flashed dangerously for an instant as he thought of arguing with the girl, before the more pragmatic part of him won out. After the struggle inside he sighed and nodded his acceptance. "My men aren't so easily beaten."

She smiled as she grabbed the two of them and dived underwater, extending a bubble to give them an air pocket as they moved back towards the shore.

* * *

_UNS Monitor, Red Sand Island_.

The bridge was silent as the telegraph machines tapped constantly, messages coming in every five seconds, saying the same thing. _Agni _down. _Yue_ down. _Dragon of The West down._

Captain Serisa's knuckles went white as her grip tightened on the chair's armrests. That was the General's flagship.

Her brown eyes blinked constantly as shock and disbelief filled her, rooting her to the spot as images of the burning ships filled her mind. Speech escaped her, and for what seemed like a long time, she could hardly think at all, she slumped onto her chair, utterly devastated and lost at what to do. She glanced down at her hands, seeing that her already pale skin had gotten even paler.

She made the mistake of glancing at the equally shocked and hurting faces of her bridge crew, who all displayed similar levels of grief. A ringing noise sounded, signalling an incoming telegraph, but to her it sounded far away and muffled, a small concern next to the large specter of the destroyed 3rd Division Fleet. Her crew, she needed to know how they were handling this.

"Ensign Ju, has the," images of the burning fleet overwhelmed her for a moment, and her mouth went dry when thoughts of the bodies came to mind. She desperately shook them away, focusing on the welfare of her crew. "-crew been notified?" she asked.

A thin and short young man with brown eyes gulped, and nodded, not catching his captain's eye. "Yes- they heard everything." he answered in a small voice.

She rubbed her temple as things came crashing down around her. She should have been there, she could have helped fend off the attackers, she could have done something! The ringing noise grew louder and sharper, and she growled at the interruption. "Kiri, speakers." she sighed and continued rubbing her temples, fighting to keep in control of their situation.

A short girl with Fire Nation features, couldn't have been more then nineteen years old, nodded and flicked a switch on her telegraph and connected a loose wire to another nearby that led to the speakers. Derisa tapped her finger impatiently on the chair's metal armrest, annoyed at waiting for the new radio system to work properly.

Hers and the 3rd Division Fleet's ships were the first to be upgraded with these systems, and as part of the agreement with Koi Industries, they had to field test them while testing the new ship designs as well. A flash of a burning ship went through her mind again, and she quickly quelled it.

"Connected and receiving." Ensign Kiri said, Serisa suppressed a exasperated sigh as static came through on the speakers overhead, before slowly being replaced by a voice she instantly recognized.

She hated the fact that the new radios only received messages, rather then being able to transmit them. She could only listen as the General's message came through. "Fleet ambushed and destroyed by Equalist aircraft." everyone went quiet at those words, realizing that the damage to the fleet would have been complete and total. Derisa began chewing her lip in worry, quickly stopping as the General's message continued. "Retreat to Red Sand Island until my signal." she frowned as he said that, wondering how he was going to get a signal to them from wherever he had washed up? Still, she was glad he was unharmed. The message continued to read out, "Do not approach city until you receive an all-clear."

Static returned to the speakers as his voice disappeared, but everyone in the bridge was relieved to hear their General's voice. The Prince was alive. She nodded and stood up, and the crew looked at her for orders. "Relay that message to Commander Bumi Kiri," the girl nodded and turned to her console, tapping out a melody on her telegraph machine. Derisa clasped both hands behind her back, addressing a slight young man sitting in front of her below the forward bridge windows. "Helmsman Turei, bring us about, we'll rendezvous with Bumi's battlegroup..." she left the chair and approached the map hanging nearby, she touched a spot on the southern approach to the island, rubbing her chin. She nodded and took the map off of the wall, laying it down near the helmsman's elbow. "-here."

He nodded, snapping of a quick salute. "Aye Ma'am."

The ship lurched slightly as the view of the beach out of the forward windows gradually dropped away to open sea, with the forests of the untouched island framing the starboard side. She dropped back into the chair, relieved that they weren't completely lost.

* * *

_The 'City'._

The table shook slightly, and everyone glanced at Bolin. He rubbed his elbow and took a step back, quickly snatching up Pabu and placing him back onto his shoulder. "Pabu - uh - fell." he looked at the floor and pressed the tips of his index fingers together, avoiding the arched eyebrow the General directed at him.

Asami had a smirk on her as she looked at him, amused. It quickly wiped off when her eye caught Mako's, and she immediately went back to that impassive mask she kept favoring.

"First things first. Amon has control of the city, he's got the police force on the run and his forces are everywhere." He looked at all of them in turn, quietly shaken by the prospect of sending _kids_ into a impossible fight. He quashed that thought, focusing on the task at hand. "But he hasn't beaten us yet." he tapped the grey colored block that represented Police Headquarters on the map, and looked at Tai and Bolin. "You two, where is Commander Makei right now?"

Bolin rubbed his chin, thinking back when Tai folded his arms together. "He and his men were preparing to fight the equalists. About twenty of them or so."

Iroh nodded. "That'll help, he always was skilled at distractions." he saw the confused and curious looks coming from the five of them. "I served under him for a few years, before he retired and went back to the Police Force."

Tai glanced at Bolin as he leaned towards him, a hand next to his mouth. "You think Sensha's okay?" he whispered, a strange look in his eyes. Tai smirked and elbowed him in the side.

He stifled a yelp as he straightened again, just as Iroh tapped his finger on City Hall. "What's the state of the council?" he asked.

Korra shrugged. "Tenzin escaped with his family, and from what I heard the rest have been caught." as she said this, her voice grew tight just thinking about whether he and the kids were safe or not.

The General nodded. "Commander Bumi and his fleet should be arriving soon. But," he looked at them all ", now comes the hard part. We need to ground those aircraft, otherwise Bumi can't retake the city."

Mako furrowed his eyebrows as he rubbed his jaw, a light of inspiration grew in his eyes, and he leant forward over the map, dragging his finger over the city's districts, until it left the city and went over the trail of blue ink denoting one of the bodies of water surrounding the central island. Everyone followed his finger as he pointed to a star burst of brown rectangles on the other side of the eastern mountain range. "They flew in from this direction. So the airfield must be somewhere over this mountain range."

Asami's eyes lit up as she dragged the map out of her breast pocket, unrolling it and pointing at a equalist symbol marked on the other side of the same mountain range. "This must be it then.", she accidentally caught Mako's eye again, and shirked away from him.

He didn't though. "Asami. This is fantastic!" his smile waned as she didn't return the favor, instead looking down at the map with a stony expression. He sighed before looking at the floor.

Iroh suppressed a exasperated groan amidst the urge to roll his eyes as he nodded. "We leave at dawn." everyone nodded in agreement. Korra and the others left the room, while Asami lingered behind for a moment, chewing her lip as she stared at one of the equalist symbols.

Mako only went a few steps before he noticed this, and stopped, closing his eyes for a moment. He really wasn't good at these things. The firebender sighed, and rubbed his neck as he approached Asami, reaching out a hand towards her shoulder. He was surprised when she didn't immediately fix him with a glare and shake him off of her, instead still staring down at that map. He froze for a moment, realizing he had no clue what he could say to her that would heal the wound between them. He looked at the floor and panicked inside, desperately working out what he coul-

"I'm sorry." he looked up, disbelieving his ears when he saw the absolutely look of self-loathing Asami had on her. She looked away from him, raven locks stopping him from seeing the single tear rolling down her cheek. She took a deep breath and leant forward on the table, hands curling into fists when they touched the equalist symbols.

He scowled and spun her towards him. "What do you need to be sorry for?" he tapped his chest as she sniffed. "I'm the stupid one!" she began to shake her head in a weak protest when he continued. "Spirits... I seriously didn't know Asami... I didn't think about what I was doing, to you and Korra."

She didn't say anything when he grabbed her hand, squeezing a little. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you what happened between us at the arena." he looked at the floor as he shook his head. "I messed up big time."

Mako fell quiet, having said his piece. He waited anxiously for the storm of angry words that he felt he deserved, not expecting her to feel any other way. But she surprised him again, by smiling sadly and squeezing back. "Thank you Mako." her words were simple, and she felt they were enough for the conflicting boy to hear. She sighed sadly as she looked at him. "So... what now?"

He shrugged. "I don't know." he confessed as he looked at the map, thinking of what the next day would be like for all of them. He turned to her and drew her into a unexpected embrace, "Whatever does happen today, I want you to know how much I care about you."

She didn't say anything for a moment, and Mako was scared that he did the wrong thing. He was about to clear his throat when she grabbed his collar and spun him towards her, planting a kiss on his cheek. Something felt final, and sad, about it, and he was left with a tangle of confused feelings when she pulled away and looked at the map for a moment. "It's time to take down my father." she murmured.

He rubbed his cheek as she left the room, running to join Bolin and Iroh on Naga's back. Pabu squeaked a greeting as she hopped on and she smiled at the little ferret before frowning as she noticed that Tai and Korra were arguing.

She had her arms folded, and looked away from him with a annoyed sigh. "You can't be serious." she murmured.

Tai tugged the straps on his sword belt, and nodded. "Of course I am-"

She whirled her head towards him, glaring as she poked a finger at his chest. "No! I'm not letting you run off and be stupid again!"

"He needs to go dow-" she interrupted him with a push. "Listen to me, if you do this-" she looked away from him for a moment. "-I can't have you on my conscience if you fail."

"I have to-" he sighed as he noticed her look away from him, staring at the ground nearby. "-I'll be careful, _extra_ careful even, but I have to do this. The _bas_-" he stopped himself as memories of what happened surged through and momentarily overwhelmed him, leaving nothing but a bad taste in his mouth. He shook them away and looked straight at her. "-I'll be careful, and-" a thought suddenly ran through him. Why should he be explaining himself to her? She grew up in some cushy compound, she still had her _family_. "I'm going and you won't stop me." he warned.

He turned and walked away as she took a step forward, hand outstretched for a moment. He didn't turn around, but still felt the power of her gaze on the back of his head. "_Fine_." she growled.

Mako was approaching, and he didn't feel like explaining himself to him as well. He stared at the ground as his hands bunched into fists. "See you." he stalked away, turning a deaf ear to what any of them would have to say, he didn't catch the eye of any of the people watching the New Team Avatar leave, and worked hard to avert their stares as much as possible. He left the gathering behind, and watched from a distance as Naga bounded away into a large tunnel opening, with three people on his back, none of them brown-skinned and hot tempered.

He saw Korra and Mako nod at each other, and make their way towards a smaller tunnel, darker and dirtier than the large one, as they were about to swallowed up by the darkness, he stiffened as she threw a worried look at where he stood, before shaking her head and following Mako in.

Focus was key now, that's all he needed to think about. He turned around and walked through the cramped little tunnel sloping gently upwards, going straight past the dead end where and the room where he questioned that girl. The grey eyes haunted him a little, and gave him something to focus on as he slogged on alone in the darkness, only joined periodically by squeaks and the constant drip of a leaky pipe running on the wall nearby.

He was abandoning them again. And this time he wasn't sure if he would come back from this one. Then again, he wasn't sure if he _wanted _to. The tunnel's incline rose noticeably steeper, signalling he was near the other end of the tunnel, his breathing deepend slightly as he expended more energy on the steeper floor, slipping a little on the slick stones at one point. None of that mattered though, nothing did when he was heading towards a confrontation he didn't expect to come out of.

The wall began to curve, and he followed, his breathing echoing loudly in the complete silence of the dryer part of the cramped space. A flash of her worried face stopped him for a moment, and he suddenly wondered if he really _was_ doing the right thing, or if it was just right for him and not for anyone else. He shook the rebellious thinking away with a angry shrug and scowled as he continued up the tunnel in a stomp, blinking a few times as the light level gradually brightened, and his eyes slowly got used to the changing ambience.

A faint roaring sound made him stop again, and he grimaced as he slowed down, cautiously creeping up to the hatch that opened under the beateous bush. He put his ear to the wall, and the sound came through clearer, sounding less like roaring and more like shouting and cheering. He would have to be extra careful, slowly he placed his hands on the old wood of the trap door, which squealed a little in protest of his touch, he quickly took one hand away, and it quietened. Gently he pushed it upwards, and what sounded like a damn concert to him went on for a eternity as it slowly swung open, letting more and more light into the tunnel, coming through spotty and patchy courtesy of the bush it was filtered through.

He poked his head out of it, slowing his breathing to avoid being heard. After a few seconds of cautious listening for walking nearby, he pulled himself out, crushing a carpet of leaves underneath as he rolled under the cover of the bush, staring upwards for a moment as he waited for the sound of boots approaching. When none came he rolled out from under the bush and stood up, brushing a few leaves and twigs off of his coat.

His gaze was lured towards the massive crowd shifting and moving constantly just across the water, all of them watching the stage expectantly as nondescript people knelt on it's wooden floorboards, heads bowed and some of them crying. That familiar urge to draw his sword pushed everything else from him for a few moments, but he forced himself to look away, and focus on the bridge nearby, and the path it connected to that wound through the trees, ending somewhere beyond where he could see.

Checking to see if any dark clothed figures were approaching on the path for a moment, he quickly ran over the bridge, and off the path, disappearing on the other side of the tree line, but still keeping in sight of the path, which began a gradual curve to the left as it followed the river that marked the rough half of this part of the park. He sighed a little as he trudged through the underbrush, taking care not to disturb any of the wildlife or cause any loud noises that would instantly draw attention onto him.

It took a few minutes for the vegetation to begin clearing up as he came closer to the edge of the thicket of trees hugging his side of the path. He squeezed through a thick line of trees, turning sideways to do so. His eyes widened and he yelped as his foot caught a branch that was sticking out of the trunk. He teetered on his front foot for a moment before wobbling precariously, balance and grace left him as he tumbled forwards, back over head until he found himself facing the early morning sky, trying to blink leaves and debris out of his eyes.

A muttered swear left him as the shadow of a person grew larger, and footsteps came closer. He stood up, dusting himself off as two Blockers advanced cautiously from both sides, while another pair, one of them unmasked and scowling at him with brown eyes, came closer, stopping in front of him.

"You a bender, _kid_?" one of them, he didn't know who, asked with the hint of a threat.

He went to shake his head when the large blocker with brown eyes laughed and poked a large sausage-imitating finger at his chest, nearly making him stumble. "You look like one!" he tried to sneer, instead appearing like something crawled up his nose and died violently.

The urge to answer back overwhelmed him. "Benders aren't that different from the rest of-" he was cut short by the big blocker scowling and pushing him onto the ground, nostrils flaring.

"Yeah they are, they think they're better than us folk!" one of the blockers on either side of him remarked. The one opposite him nodded, clearly in agreement with his comrade's eloquent words.

The urge came back, and this time he was getting angry. "Is that right? Are they lording it over us while we hunt them _down_? And take their _kids_ as well? Go us."

"Quiet!" the large man picked him up by the coat's collar, baring his tombstone like teeth in a display of anger. "Are. you. A _bender!_"

Tai rolled his eyes and straightened out his hand until all fingers were extended and his palm was bare, turning it towards the man's broad chest. He couldn't resist a smirk as his fingers curled in a little, and a ball of air came into existence, sitting on his palm. He nodded towards it. "This enough for you?", the man didn't have time to yelp or groan as Tai slammed it into his chest, rupturing the skin of super condensed air and letting the immense pressures contained within spill out, directed into the large blocker. The force of the wind sent him flying away from the boy tumbling and rolling, his rough journey not even slowing down when the other three Blockers pounced from all sides. He ducked under a pair of batons attached end by end to a chain, and his hand shot forward, closing around one of them and yanking hard. The blocker who wielded the weapon was wrenched to the ground, and Tai quickly stepped over him to get away from the short knife that appeared in one of the two's hands.

He took a deep breath and sucked his gut, barely missing the sharp edge of the rusty little blade, luckily the man wielding was woefully unskilled, and the momentum from his clumsy swing made him stumble forward, Tai resisted a tired sigh as his knee slammed up into the man's gut, taking the breath out of him as he twisted to the ground at Tai's feet, knocked out.

The last blocker standing yelled as he kicked at his chest, Tai twisted around it, grabbing the man's knee and wrenching him off-balance, the man teetered for a moment as Tai placed a palm on his chest, and loosed a stream of wind that propelled the Blocker into the bushes nearby, and was out as his head smacked against a tree trunk.

His chest heaved for a bit as the rush that fighting always gave began to leave his body, he swallowed as he glanced at each of the unconscious bodies around him, stopping when he noticed the corner of a yellowed piece of paper sticking out of the big Blocker's pocket. He bent down to pick it up, and unfolded it, seeing a profile of Amon's mask took up the top half, with a picture of the Pro Bending Arena sitting beneath it.

He nodded and folded it up, placing it in a pocket on his coat. He trudged down the path, drawing closer and closer to the fence marking one of the park's boundaries.

* * *

_Air Temple Island_.

The floor lurched for a moment as something nudged against the outside of the gondola, she gritted her teeth as her cheek smacked against the metal floor, unable to use her hands to push herself back up. She saw everything sideways for a few seconds as two laughing hands grabbed her shoulders roughly, one of them gripping her hair painfully as she was wrenched back up, kneeling between two masked chi blockers.

Frustration clouded her thoughts as she remembered that the metal binding her wouldn't budge at her command. Once again she felt herself reaching for comfort of the earth, finding nothing instead. She couldn't let it get to her. Not now. Not yet.

Everything shook slightly as two whumps were heard, and the whole airship lurched as it was dragged to a mooring point just outside. She guessed they were using the top of the temple spire as a makeshift landing point, since nothing else on the island would work. It calmed her thinking about stuff like that, it made her forget about the absence of her connection.

A masked equalist standing near the side hatch turned the wheel mounted on it, opening the gondola to the elements outside. Her sides ached as she was dragged forwards by her arms, her legs feeling like jelly as the two equalists holding her turned abruptly, causing a flare of pain to well up in her shoulders. She gritted her teeth, and quickly hung her head as one of them looked down at her, checking for any signs of resistance. Unbeknownst to him her hand clenched slightly. Not yet.

The wind tore at her as she was dragged down the ramp through onto the spire's topmost balcony, groaning as the two guards took their grip away, and her stomach protested as it met the floorboards of the temple. They walked back up the ramp, disappearing into the gondola as a pair of fresh ones stepped out of the temple's attic and took up their post, dragging her forwards into the dimly lit room. A box stuffed in the corner nearby jogged her memory, and for a brief moment, she wasn't being dragged to a cell by terrorists, she was running circles around a young ten year old with a brown heard of hair, who pouted as she tripped him up, making her giggle when she hopped over him, running for the box nearby. She rummaged through the dusty things spilling out of it as the ladder creaked, and a blue arrow on a man's forehead appeared-

Her nose slammed against the floorboards, bringing involuntary tears to her eyes as she lay there for a moment, waiting until the guards had left down the ladder before rolling up to face the wooden supports on the ceiling. She breathed heavily for a moment, hopeless going over the fact that her earth bending could see her out of this. Her eyes flashed dangerously as she quelled sob, noticing the iron bar that had been driven into the ceiling, she turned her head, and immediately scowled, shuffling away from the bowed man hiding in the shadows of those bars, wary of what he could do.

"There's no need, Lin. He has already taken it from me." the stringy brown hair obscuring the man's features parted as he lifted his chin up, studying her with sunken blue eyes.

She didn't answer immediately, her mind rushing back to City Hall, and his almost deranged face as he left them writhing on the floor. "He overpowered you. _Good._" her eyes were hard as she kept remembering the unnatural way her blood flowed and shifted while under his control, helpless with all semblance of authority taken from her. She suppressed a shudder as she only just realised how correct her mother's explanation of her terrifying experience with blood bending was. At the hand's of Tarrlok's father no less. The grim trick the spirits were playing was not lost on her.

He chuckled humorlessly, the tone hollow and flat as he looked at her with a wry half-hearted smirk. "Yes he did. For a non-bender he can manipulate _people_ very well."

The emphasis he placed on that word made Lin's skin crawl, and strange thoughts streamed in her mind, a theory beginning to form. Her pride almost stopped her from asking a _monster_ like him, but she had to. "What do you mean by that?" she said, her tone commanding rather than asking.

Another laugh as he looked at her. "It's a secret I don't think should be told to you." she growled warningly, and he rolled his eyes, sighing. "Fine. I think he might be a bender. Happy?"

Now that was incredulous, she thought. It was her turn to chuckle dryly as she regarded him with a cold gaze. "You're just sad that he was able to beat you so easily." she chuckled some more, although when she saw the serious and haunted look in his eyes, her mocking mirth dropped away a little.

"I'm a bloodbender, Lin. I felt the same thing in him when he subdued me." he looked at the floor for a moment, incredible sadness appearing in his wistful eyes as a memory of his childhood came to mind.

"The equalists wouldn't let someone like that lead them-" she argued, not wanting to believe that the most dangerous terrorist they ever faced was a bloodbender.

He looked at her. "It's incredibly easy to hide one's bending from others. I did the same thing for _years_." he hung his head again as he recalled something else. "All of it was to lead this city into the future." he whispered.

She scowled. "How? Was abusing non-benders part of that _bright _future?" she glared at him, not caring if he would answer her or not. She leant against the wall, staring up at the ceiling as she spotted him shuffling back into the shadows with the corner of her eye.

"I don't expect anyone to forgive me for what I've done, but I can at least help you escape from here." she turned her head to tell him to be quiet when his foot kicked something across the floor towards her, something small and metal. She waited a few seconds before rolling over the object to grab it with her grimy fingers. It was a key.

Lin didn't waste her breath on a thank you, he didn't deserve it. She manipulated the tiny key with her index and ring finger, struggling a little to fit it into the lock on her manacles, finally she got it in, and with a single breath of anticapation she turned it, the manacles loosened instantly as the lock clicked, and they clattered noisily onto the floorboards.

After a few seconds of justified disbelief, and wondering how he had the time to get the key, she pushed herself against the wall, using it as a brace to keep her from falling. When she had fully straightened and was standing up, she gasped at a wash of light headedness going through her, and she quickly leant back against the wall. After a few seconds she took a step forward and quickly stumbled, her leg muscles still like jelly.

Gritting her teeth she powered through the haze of fatigue enveloping her legs, and eventually, she was able to walk a few steps without falling over or stumbling. She took a deep breath as she stood in front of Tarrlok's cell, looking at the floor as if it could tell her what to do about the broken man.

A sigh escaped her as she turned towards the shadows where he sat. "Thank you, councilman."

Bitter laughter came from the darkness behind the bars. "I'm won't be any longer , Lin, not if you or Tenzin have anything to say about it."

She shook her head, not knowing why she was wasting time on the sulking idiot. With a grunt she walked towards the doors leading to the balcony, grabbing onto a few of the support beams along the way for balance. She reached the doors, and immediately began putting her shoulder into it as she realized that they had been locked from the outside. After few minutes of growing annoyance and frustration witht the thick doors, she sat down for a bit, trying to think of a way through them and to freedom.

Those thoughts about how easy bending the earth inside the wood would be overwhelmed her, and once again all that ran through her mind was that she had no clue how to get through this door.

The thoughts blew away when she growled and took a few steps back, she angled her shoulder forward and ran into the door, the frame shook a little, and the old wood dented a little. That brought a small grin to her, and she stepped back again, she wasn't going to let two blocks of ancient wood stop her. She ran into it again, and the frame shook for longer than before. She leaned back and bashed her shoulder into the door, shaking it more and more until she heard a crunch come from the old wood. Stopping for a moment, she could pick out some cracks that weren't there before, that filled her with elation, and she took several large steps back, not stopping until she was standing in the middle of the room.

The ladder began to creak, and she grimaced when she heard the sound of wood sagging under the weight of boots. Focusing solely on the battered balcony doors, she took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes, she took off at a sprint, keeping her shoulder between the rest of her body and the doors, the doors crashed open, and she stumbled as her feet slipped on the wet boards on the balcony, her hand flailed for a moment, before getting a hold on the rail nearby, stopping her from tipping over the edge. She looked back, seeing that the doors were barely hanging onto their hinges, which brought a little smile to her lips. The rain got into her eyes as she leant over the rail, looking for the handholds that would get her down quickly.

A old green colored board jutting out of the wall nearby caught her attention, and the image of a black haired little girl hanging onto it to catch the brown haired boy below came to mind. She grinned and quickly swung herself over, throwing out a hand to catch the green painted board. The sound of boots running across floorboards made her move more quickly, and soon enough she had disappeared from sight, making her way down the spire.

* * *

She lowered her hands, and the sphere of water melted away as they stopped near the bottom of a sheer wall of dark colored rocks and boulders. The rain lashed at the two of them as Korra glanced up at the tip of the airship visible above them. "So what's the plan?" Mako asked.

"Simple. We ambush him in the temple's basement, then we win." she answered, noting the unimpressed look he was giving her. She sighed, "What's wrong?"

He pointed at the airship above them, "The fact that the whole island is swarming with his men." he folded his arms. "We need something a bit more planned than just jumping him in the basement."

Korra shook her head as she grabbed the edge of the boulder standing nearby. "I'll think of something as we get there." she didn't stop to hear his complaints, and hefted herself onto the boulder, before grabbing another one above it and doing the same.

Scowling, he followed her up, wondering how well this was going to pan out.

After a few minutes of climbing, he dusted himself off and walked into small circle of trees where she was waiting. They pulled their masks on and nodded, climbing up the small slope to the central area between all of the buildings. Before moving any further they surveyed the area carefully, checking for any other blockers or guards patrolling around. After a few tense seconds, Korra nodded and led the way, glancing occasionally at the large airship moored behind the main temple structure. A faint rustling sound drew her gaze to a group of bushes growing near the bottom of the man-made plateau the spire sat on, and she thought she could see someone moving through them rapidly.

"What are you two doing here?" she nearly jumped at the sound of that unmistakebly deep voice, before stopping herself, and turning around to see Amon's lieutenant regarding them sternly, hands clapsed behind his back. Her mind worked desperately to make up a believable excuse, and kept flailing and panicking when nothing came to mind but polar-bear dogs and flaming hoops.

Mako straightened. "Uh, we were just transferred." he cleared his throat nervously as the lieutenant studied the two of them closely, trying to pick out anything that would surely mark them as not being equalists.

Whatever he found, he seemed to be satisifed. "Well, you're getting transferred again, Amon wants extra security at the arena today."

"The arena? For what?" he blurted out, immediately regretting it.

He froze when the lieutenant tilted his head slightly as his fingers flexed. "The rally? You should have been briefed about this."

"S-sorry sir. Our sergeant's been a bit lax on protocol." Korra cut in, throwing a millisecond glance at Mako in the process. She threw in a little bow. "We'll be there sir."

Seemingly convinced, the lieutenant's fingers relaxed, and he walked away from the two of them, shaking his head slightly. "Recruits." they heard him mutter as he left the two of them standing there.

She strained to contain the urge to stare at the man's back until he was gone, and let go of the breath she was holding. Mako stared at the ground thoughtfully, before glancing at her. "Amon's ship is about to leave, and we can't go through the front door, we won't be able to catch it in time."

Korra nodded. "I know another way in."

He fought the urge to roll his eyes as he followed her over to a wall near the main temple. "You're such a rebel." she grinned as she shifted aside a large boulder near the base of the wall, revealing a roughy made hole that dug straight into the foundations.

"This leads straight to the basement." she explained, kneeling to crawl through first.

"I have to ask, why did you make this hole?" Mako crawled in after her, and was pleasantly kept distracted by the graceful picture of her curvaceous body.

She realized this when his question trailed away, and she heard a cough of embarrassment coming from him. She stopped abruptly and her foot 'slipped' backwards, crunching his fingers against the floor of the tunnel. "I dug it so I could see your match against the Tigerdillos." she smirked at the silence coming from him, and she continued crawling through the tunnel.

"Is this a good time to say again how sorry I am about being a jerk to you back then?" he asked, blinking a few motes of dust out of his eyes after bumping his head on the tunnel's roof.

"Seeing as I can send a boot into your face at any time, I think it is." she chuckled between breaths of exertions, before quieting down. "Thank you Mako.", after a few moments of silence she chewed her lip as she remembered something she wanted to say to him. "So, is Asami... going to be okay?"

He stiffened, before sighing as he resumed his crawling. "I hope so. I wasn't what you'd call the greatest boyfriend."

She fell quiet as well, and he waited for a reply from her. Instead the sounds of her crawling started up, and he was happy to drop the topic. The tunnel curved upwards, and he heard her grunt in surprise as she tumbled out of the wall. He waited for her to untangle herself and move, before he dropped out of the tunnel as well, straightening as he slid onto the floor.

He walked over to her and offered a hand to her, she grabbed it and he pulled her upright. She put a finger to her lips as she walked forwards, leading the way to the top of the spire.


	29. The Fall, and The Finale

He blinked to keep the rain out his eyes, and shivered constantly as the spray from the waves crashing just below soaked him to the bone, he didn't care though, all of that small concerns next to the visage of the white mask that kept haunting his mind. The water below churned as the wings of his glider skimmed above, bringing him closer and closer to the island with the specter of a equalist airship looming over it.

A scowl crept across his features as he banked to the left, bypassing the docks and heading around the western side of the island, keeping close to the cliffs. He guided the glider upwards, clearing the mess of sharp rocks that jutted out of the dark water, any one of them easily able to smash apart the fragile limbs on his glider, and smash him as well. A strange and deep thudding noise piercing through the raging winds and lashing rain to reach his ears, and he looked up, seeing the balloon of the airship moored above listing slightly, signalling that it had just disengaged from the moor point.

He manipulated the air carrying the glider, into a stream that ran straight up, allowing him to climb like an arrow towards the top of the cliffs, it would tire him out too quickly if he kept rising higher and higher using that technique, so he leveled out just above the trees and bushes that littered the area near the cliff's edge, he caught a few pairs of faintly gleaming eyes staring up at him from the depths of the trees, and all of a sudden he was wishing that he hadn't just disturbed an entire flock of Lemurs.

That wouldn't be doing any good for a stealthy approach. He shook the thoughts away, preferring to concentrate on what could go right than what could go horribly, horribly, wrong. He couldn't stop looking at the massive airship covering most of the island in it's shadow, couldn't help his thoughts immediately going straight to Amon, while the newer, calmer part of him kept trying to stop those thoughts of revenge, the older, larger and hate-filled part responded by quashing any other thoughts, leaving room only for the ones that appealed to his interests the best.

His grip on the glider pole tightened considerably as he recklessly increased the stream of air pushing him along, putting the boy closer and closer to the underbelly of the large air borne machine looming overhead. A gust of wind buffeted the glider and set his teeth on edge. He looked at the source of the disturbance, and his heart pounded loudly as he watched the large ship above speed up, preparing to leave the island for the glittering domed building across the bay. He narrowed his eyes to protect against rain getting in them, and he angled almost directly up, the stream of air behind him struggled to keep the glider steady while ascending so quickly, and he responded by pouring more and more effort in, and found himself having to concentrate on controlling the stream and watching where he was going. His breathing started to shallow a little, and he felt a slight burning sensation in his lungs. Immediately he stopped enhancing the stream's flow, and sure enough the burning in his lungs went away, leaving a dull ache in it's place.

A fork of lightning shot through the clouds above, and somewhere in the back of his mind, something told him that wearing a piece of metal on your back was _not _a good idea during a storm. The storm was confirmed when the rain came in larger and more brutal droves, forcing him to fly back over the trees to slightly calmer winds. A small shiver ran through him, building up into more and more until he found himself shaking almost constantly, realizing he was still soaked to the bone by spray from the blisteringly cold waters in the bay. He used airbending to slow the glider down, and took a deep breath, focusing on visualizing a flame within him growing larger. He exhaled, and almost immediately the simple firebending technique spread warmth through out his limbs and chest, steam began to rise off of his clothes as they were touched by the firebending as well, drying fairly quickly. Soon enough he was in a cocoon of warm air, and he looked up at the airship, focusing on it again.

He grimaced as it's nose had reached the area over the edge of the island, and he knew his window was shrinking fast. He urged his glider into a climb, steadily rising higher and higher, not even reacting as the rain came in stronger sheets as if in answer to the warm body of air around him and the glider. The cold wind rushed through his hair, leaving an unpleasantly wet sensation behind as he began to creep closer and closer to the back of the rapidly accelerating machine.

A tremor ran through the flow of wind he sailed on, as he ascended onto the same altitude as the main propellers of the airship were situated. He gritted his teeth as he powered through the increasingly turbulent wind, putting as much as he could into rising above the propellers, trying to get out of their output. The massive force generated by the propellers forced himself to do something desperate, he took one hand off of the glider shaft and aimed his open palm towards the ground far below. He blasted a jet of air downwards, forcing the glider to rise above the powerful stream of turbulence, it began to wobble without the touch of two hands keeping it steady, and with a yell lost in the clamor of a beat of thunder, the glider was wrenched upwards, nearly flipping over in the process. He yelped and placed his hand back on the shaft, and it righted almost instantly.

He heaved a sigh of relief as he kept rising up, gently this time, aiming for the walkway that stretched over the top of the superstructure. The only thing separating him from the elements now was the open sky above, he positioned himself above the walkway, fighting to keep pace with the rapidly speeding airship at the same time. After a few seconds of concentration and calculation, and a little prayer to anything listening, he swopped down, rushing towards the taut black skin that contained the lifting agents within. He fought the urge to close his eyes and wince as he shot directly down, needing both eyes to determine when to begin deceleration.

He took a deep breath, holding it as his glider began to close dangerously towards the walkway. He narrowed his eyes and exhaled, a mighty jet of superfast wind flowing out of his mouth, immediately slowing his descent to a more manageable level. His lungs began strained to keep it up after a few seconds, and he closed his mouth, feeling light headed for as he touched down clumsily onto the walkway with a clang. He stumbled forwards as a strong gust of wind punched into his back, bowling him over, without thinking he shot a hand out towards one of the rails nearby, getting a weak grip on one with three fingers. As his head cleared, his gripped tightened on the rail, and the wind soon couldn't budge or knock him about at all.

Slowly, his lungs felt better, and he found the strength to stand up, using a gust of wind to pull the glider into his open hand. As soon as one of his fingers brushed against the flexible shaft, the wings folded up, and disappeared inside in a instant. He stowed it on his back and took a step forward, cautiously maintaining a steady footing on the constantly shifting and moving surface of the airship.

He looked up as the hatch at the end of the walkway flew open, lighting up the area around it with a warm brightness. He stopped for a moment as a masked head rose up to greet him, followed by a strange metal tub on his shoulder. His eyes widened when he saw the vicious barbed spearhead pocking out of it, staring at him angrily. The tube jerked the man back a little as the heavy metal spear launched itself towards the boy, the air whistling through it's wicked barbs. He threw himself flat on the walkway, keeping low as his face scrunched up against the grilled metal plates. The spear shot overhead, it's passage only inches above the back of his head. He took a deep breath as he saw the man wedge the tube against the rail, and disappear back into the ship.

Tai cursed and stood up, holding on to the rails as he thundered down the walkway towards the open hatch. He heard yelling coming from the warm glow of the interior, and a gloved hand reached up to pull the hatch shut, the boy swore and ran faster, stumbling and nearly falling over the railing as he stuck a foot between the hatch and it's frame. He gritted his teeth as the heavy metal slab crunched onto the top of his foot, and he bit back a yelp as he bent down, a ball of air forming in his palm, without any finesse he shoved it into the closing space next to his abused foot, he swiped his other hand through the ball, breaking the super condensed skin of air containing the turbulent winds within. The pressure of it exploding nearly broke his hand, and succeeded in blowing the hatch off of it's hinge, sending it spinning into the dark clouds around the ship.

Filing away the pain he swung himself down into the warm corridor, his foot meeting the unlucky mask of the blocker who shot that spear at him. The man grunted as he was slammed into the wall, pushing off it to back away from the recovering air bender. Tai was about to begin his pursuit when something landed on his back, discharging electricity through out his body. The painful surge knocked him to the floor, gasping for breath as his hands twitched terribly. He flailed around, accidentally loosing a lucky blast of wind that hit the attacker squarely in the chest, sending him tumbling back down the corridor with a pained grunt. He kicked his legs, trying to get away from his unknown attacker, slowly he managed to get a tiny bit of breathing room, which he estimated would last all of five seconds or so. As he lay there he shoved air down his throat using bending, knowing that the technique would severely hurt him later on. But later on wasn't now, and he needed to be moving now.

He choked as he continued shoving the air down his throat, eyes watering at the constant pressure building on his windpipe. The horrible sensation died down after a few seconds as the hastily crammed air began circulating around his body, giving a jump to the senses and clearing his head a little. The aches on his back dulled a little as well, and he stood up, stumbling as he turned to run down the corridor away from the unknown attacker, well aware that most likely his intrusion had been reported to Amon, which meant he needed to deal with him in a larger space than the corridor he was in.

He hopped over the protruding frame of the hatch, grabbing onto it to steady himself as he turned a corner, finding himself at the top of a cramped stairwell, he took them two at a time, not caring for the loud thuds each of his steps made, stealth already having flown out of the window for him. The staircase didn't go far, and he found himself standing outside a door on the bottom most floor, facing a open door into a large and dark space. Very cautiously, and breathing so loudly it was impossible to hear himself think, he stepped through, easing his sword out of it's scabbard.

His boots clacked loudly against the smooth metal floor as he quietly approached the side of a large rectangular crate nearby, it's entirety covered by a thick black sheet. Curiosity nearly overwhelmed him, urging his hand to move towards the sheet's edge to throw it open, to see what was underneath. As his fingers came closer and closer to grabbing the frayed edges of the sheet, a strange sensation grew stronger in him, and a dull throb started up in his head. He thought about taking his hand away when the throb grew stronger in intensity, and louder, forcing him to move his hand closer to the edge of the sheet, it strengthened as his hand got closer, and his teeth were set on edge as he heard a whisper in his ear, dark and frightening. His eyes widened and he began to sweat, immediately taking his hand away from the strange crate. He stepped back, releasing the breath he didn't realise he was holding as he shook his head clear of the strange sensation.

Not looking back at the crate he moved away from it, wanting to get away from whatever was inside it, his eyes narrowed as he was reminded how far Amon had fallen if he was carrying something that could influence people like that. A flash of a white mask went across his vision, and for a brief warm instant he was back in the cottage, laughing as the deep voice told him a Water Tribe joke while he and his brother tumbled about on the floor, not a care in the world. He growled when he was taken away from that simple memory, and he stalked into the center of the room, realizing that it was the loading bay of the ship.

Carefully he stepped deeper into the bay, his breathing slow and measured while he approached the dead center of the large room, arching his eyebrow as the floor under his leading foot made a softer clack here, he squatted down for a quick second, calling a single tiny flame into existence over the tip of his index finger. The meager light it cast off was just enough for him to spot the tiny gap between this section of flooring and the rest. His spine shivered when he saw that he was standing directly on top of the loading bay's bomb doors, and that shiver increased after his flame winked out, and he spotted the faint outlines of bombs sitting in their palettes, picking them out of the gloom.

A grinding noise started up, and he blinked several times when bright light filled the bay, and green lenses came at him from all sides, with one of them carrying a pair of faintly glowing sticks, their tips crackling with discharge. He ducked under a bola thrown from behind, and raised his hand to blast wind at the offender when the whole bay was plunged back into blackness again, and the only light sources left were the faint glow of the green lenses all around him. The sudden loss of sight cost him badly, as before he could react one of the Lieutenant's kali sticks slammed down onto his back, making him grit his teeth as pain arced all through his body. He blasted the area behind him with a sloppy wall of wind, trying to buy time to get some breathing room for a few seconds, so he could find a way out of here and to Amon.

He ducked and weaved under more bolas, hoping that they would instead hit the lieutenant as he ran forward, dropping to the floor in a roll as the faint outline of someone's leg sailed towards his chest. As he rolled he stuck a palm up, launching a small pulse of wind upwards that sent the man off-balance, quickly Tai swept his legs around, catching the man's feet and sending him crashing to the floor with a sharpy cry.

A bola from behind caught him off-guard, and wrapped around his wrist, squeezing the fragile bones within to near unbearable pressures. He gasped as he was forced to drop his sword, and he stumbled forwards just as someone landed a solid kick on his chest, winding him and driving the boy to the floor, panting for air, everything dimmed as he tried to crawl forwards, reaching a hand out to his sword laying on the floor nearby. A foot crunched down on his hand, pinning it to the floor and bringing tears to his eyes, a boot slammed into his cheek, making his head spin and his vision dim even further. The only clear sound he could hear was the sound of his own heartbeat, everything else was a muted whisper to his suffering body.

He willed his hands to work as he worked to lift his head up from the metal floor, towering around him were innumerable numbers of ghostly green lenses, watching him without blinking, one standing at the corner of his left eye disappeared from the group, heading off to who know where and for what reason. The line of blockers in front of him parted, making way for the lieutenant, who squatted down to the battered boy's level, lifting his head up by grabbing his hair. Tai's stare was unfocused as he swallowed drily, the lieutenant shook his head slightly. "You should have made a better plan, boy."

That word again, made something inside him growl, he managed a weak chuckle as he blinked twice. "Let me try again, then."

The lieutenant's grip disappeared, and Tai felt saw stars when his head slammed into the floor, making a sharp dinging sound that bounced across the metal walls of the cavernous bay. Amon's right hand man stood directly in front of him, hands clasped behind his back as he turned his head and nodded to an unknown subordinate. The boy barely registered a lever being pulled nearby, and he went to speak up before the doors underneath him opened up to the yawning darkness below.

In a instant he was away from that ship, now crashing and tumbling towards the sharp spiky rocks jutting out of the waves below. He fought the urge to close his eyes and let sleep overtake him, and with a sharp yell of pain lost in the clamor of rain and wind, he extended an arm out, opening his closed hand into a palm. He gritted his teeth as his vision dimmed, trying to will his other hand to do the same as well. He gasped and blacked for a few seconds, only hearing the wind whip by and feeling the rain lash at him. With a tired and low growl he was awake again, and this time much closer to those rocks.

Without any time to think he poured all he could into two massively powerful streams of wind, blasting them down at the waters below to slow his unstable descent. Already his vision was dimming again, and he heard his heart pounding in his ears as he put everything he had on the line. A thought of relief flowed within when he slowed a little, noticing the forest of trees sitting on the cliff nearby, he angled both arms in the opposite direction, and let fly with a huge and strong single blast that shunted him away from the approaching water, and flinging him into the trees instead. His entire body went numb before the first pine leaf brushed his shoulder, and he finally blacked out as the leaf covered ground rushed up to meet him.

* * *

_Somewhere Beyond The Eastern Range._

"Is that all of them?" he asked, panting as he dropped to the unmarred ground near the wrecked runways, completely exhausted. The mecha tank he was addressing rumbled to a halt, something inside grinding noisily as the whole chassis sagged to the right, unbalanced by the loss of one arm. Steam hissed out from the cockpit as the seals were realised, and the faceplate of the mecha shifted upwards and outwards, Asami hopped out of the ruined machine, steadily stopping herself from glancing at the tied up and unconcious man lying on the ground a couple of metres away, instead trying to focus on Bolin as much as possible.

She sat down with him as Naga approached from behind, nodding silently. The only sound between them was Bolin's breathing as he recovered from the exhausting bouts of earth bending he used to tear up the runways and save Asami. She bit her lip as she stared at the soft pink clouds floating above the land between the airfield and the city, hit by the rays of the sun rising over the bay.

"You okay?" he said after a while, smiling a bit as she jumped a little.

She didn't answer back immediately, the image of her father's almost _feral_ look burned into her mind, something she wouldn't be able to shake off so soon. For her sanity she tore herself away from that image, and looked at Bolin with a guarded expression. She took a deep breath as she closed her eyes for a instant. "I will be."

"He's uh- are you sure?" Bolin looked down at the ground, pressing the tips of his index fingers together in a display of apprehension.

A smile forced itself on her as she looked at him, trying to put on a stable front. "I'm sure, Bolin." her voice shook a little, and her smile dropped a little when he glanced at her with a good-natured smirk.

A sniff escaped her as her eyes grew wet, and she found that she had dug furrows into the dirt with her fingers, dirtying the tips of her gloves. She was horrible at lying, always had been.

"I'm not buying it, sister." he folded his arms as he glanced up at her. "You don't have to bottle it up you know."

A small laugh escaped her as she stared down at the ground, drawing her knees up close and wrapping her arms around her sides, avoiding the looks she thought he was giving her. "I have to, can't break down now, Korra-" she stopped for a moment as thoughts of her sometimes-friend brought Mako to mind as well. She swallowed as she noticed the smile still on Bolin's face. "-what's so funny?" she asked, wincing inside as it came out a little more biting then she meant.

"Nothing. You were great in there." he stretched and yawned before standing up, putting both hands on his hips as he looked at the land gradually warming with the sun's rise. He yelped as Naga touched him on the shoulder with her snout, he glanced at the massive creature when she barked and pointed at the city with her snout, panting with her tongue out the whole time.

"You are such a slave driver!" he whined as he scratched her on the chin. Asami couldn't help a little smile as she stood up, brushing the dust off of her clothes and wiping a few tears away with the back of her hand. Pabu squeaked as he hopped off of Naga's saddle, using Bolin as a springstep to get to his patented therapy patient.

She sighed as she scratched his ears, making the fire-ferret vibrate with joy. "Better do what she says Bolin. Can't say no to a girl." she chuckled as she walked past him, although the happy sound didn't reflect what was going on inside of her. She needed to focus on everything else apart from _him_.

He slumped as he followed her onto Naga's saddle, taking up the reins while he felt her slender arms wrap around his chest. Naga licked her chops as she craned her head slightly to look at Bolin, a quizzical look in her eyes. He coughed nervously when he realised he wasn't sure how to get her to 'start'.

"Hold on Bolin. We need to take him with us." he nodded stiffly as she hopped off of Naga's saddle, looking at the ground at her feet as much as she could while approaching the tied up madman on the ground a dozen meters away. She wrapped her arms around herself as she came to a stop over her father's unconcsious body, chewing her lip as she forced herself to look down at the man who raised her by himself for a long time. She suppressed a bitter laugh at that thought, if anything they took care of each other in a way, she'd always be there for him after a harrowing day at the company, he'd always have time to play games with her and dote on his little princess.

She found it hard to believe that _this_ was that same caring father. The thoughts went away with a shake of the head as Naga approached from behind, with Bolin holding the reins as he glanced down at Asami with a sombre expression. The girl's hands clenched for a second before they relaxed again, and she hefted the man onto her shoulder and walked around Naga's side, slinging him on the very back of the saddle. She completed the task without so much as glance at the monster her father had become, and in a few seconds had already clambered onto the saddle behind Bolin and wrapped her arms around his chest. He noticed with a dry gulp she was nestling into his shoulder a little, which he didn't mind.

"Away, fair steed!" he shouted gloriously, prompting a sigh from the girl behind him and a confused whine from their 'fair steed'. He coughed nervously again, throwing a apologetic smile at Asami before clearing his throat and puffing his chest out. "I, Bolin of the fire-ferrets, command you to-" he yelped girlishly as Naga bounded forwards with a happy roar, Pabu did as well, however his was far more manly than his owners.

In the months to come, Asami would rib him constantly about this priceless occasion, even if she was currently engaged in her own thoughts right now.

Away Naga went, bounding directly towards the shining-from-afar city nestled around the bay below the mountain the airfield was on. She barked happily as she cleared great swathes of the runway in seconds, almost reaching the forest of trees nestled on the slopes just beyond. Pabu chittered nervously as Bolin felt the tightly packed mass of muscles underneath him tense and relax, almost as if she was going to-

He screamed loud and unmanlike as with a happy roar she jumped off the end of the runway, landing on all fours on the beginning of the slope with a great thud that disturbed a few ferret-monkeys nearby. Asami didn't even show a reaction as Naga ran past the treeline, almost skidding down the slope as she lumbered past the tall pine trees and bushes, head swinging to and fro as she barked happily again while Bolin quickly shouted warning, the two of them quickly ducked under the low hanging branches, then again as more of them rushed to meet their faces.

"Slow down -mph!- Naga!" Bolin coughed a sputtered as a fistful of leaves forced themselves into his mouth and face, he scowled as the polar-bear dog just seemed to go faster, but it softened when he noticed that he could see the trees stop abruptly a hundred meters away. He grinned and lowered himself closer to Naga's back, so that he was almost doubled over. Asami did the same, and no more low hanging branches presented themselves, much to Bolin's relief as he picked out a leaf from his hair.

Naga practically leapt out of the treeline, and immediately skidded to a halt in the grassy field, roaring a challenge at the massive black ship looking down at them. Bolin's eyes widened as he tightened his grip on her reins, urging her forward as much as he could. But she stayed put, roaring a challenge at the ship as vicious looking turrets mounted on platforms on either side of the gondola swiveled to aim at them, their payload's barbed tips glinting viciously in the early morning sun.

He kicked her side and bent down to shout in her ear. "Run girl! We need to get to Korra!" that did it, and after a another roar she bounded forwards, zig zagging as iron harpoons launched down at them, the ropes tied to their ends quivering as blockers began sliding down them, some flinging bolas at the fleeing creature and her passengers.

"Asami! Swap!" she nodded as he shuffled backwards on the saddle, keeping a grip on the side to keep from falling off while she used his shoulder as a handhold to climb around him, five seconds later she was in his seat, holding onto Naga's reins tightly as Bolin cracked his knuckles and flexed his fingers as he stared up at the airship above. He gritted his teeth as he swiped his arm upwards, stopping when he saw his hand in front of one of the turrets above. A chunk of earth nearby ripped itself up and flung itself into the air, the airship listed a little as it slammed into the underside of one of the platforms, shaking the turret a little. He grimaced and tried again, this time a smaller and thinner boulder heeded his call, and speared towards the turret, it was a terrific success as it slammed into the launcher, completely crushing it's front half and causing the gunner to abandon his seat and run back into the gondola.

He felt himself being wrenched to the right as Asami urged Naga to to turn left, heading towards the cover of the trees nearby. She swore as a rumbling sound could be heard, and headlights switched on in the darkness behind the treeline. Mecha tanks knocked trees out of their paths as they advanced in a line ten strong towards them, Naga roared as she ran directly towards one of them, snarling as she slammed her body into it, knocking the machine over and leaving it a smoking disable wreck as she skidded into a turn, and bounded between the backs of the machines and the treelines. The airship compensated by floating towards them, making it harder and harder for Asami to maneuver Naga withouth running into any bad guys.

Naga yelped in pain as one of the machines turned around on it's tracks without warning, and slammed a arm down on her front leg. She roared as she limped past the line, roaring again as a claw smacked into one of her back legs, gripping her foot and making her crash to a halt with a whine. Bolin and Asami's eyes widened as they shook their heads clear, looking at each other as the machines began to close in from one side, while blockers crept through the brush towards them from the other. Above them the airship loomed as it prepared to land. Bolin grimaced as he knelt by Naga's trapped foot, trying to pry the claw loose before the machine winched her towards it.

he was interrupted by a whistling noise that dominated the entire area, as another airship barreled towards the gathered equalists from the city, iron spikes launching from all six of it's mounted turrets. It drew closer and closer with incredible speed, and almost turned on a dime as it presented the equalist airship with it's side. Spikes from bothsides smacked into various points on both ships, while on the black and grey airship, iron spikes with ropes tied to their ends slammed into the ground near Naga, who roared a challange at the unknown arrivals, trying to stand up before falling back to the ground, exhausted. Bolin and Asami nodded grimly at each other as black armored figures dropped out of the loading bay of the massive airship, their wires thudding into the grass below to slow their descent.

A red clothed figure slid down one of the lines after them, and immediately ran towards Bolina and Asami. A blocker threw a bola at her from the side, she growled and twirled around it, loosing a blast of flame from her outstretched fist that sent the man flying away into two of his comrades. She drew closer, and Bolin was giddy with relief when he saw who it was.

"Sensha?" Asami was about to ask something else when she ducked as a quarter of bolas whipped over her, she grimaced and nodded at the two of them, before running off to assist a tall brown skinned boy wearing blue armor and a wolf helm.

Naga whined when she saw who it was, Sensha knelt down next to her with a concerned look at her front and back leg. And looked up as the line of machines nearby began to rumble forward, shooting their claws en masse over their heads towards the fighting metal benders nearby. Just as they were about to hit though, the majority of them twisted away and dove sharply into the ground, burying themselves and partially immobilizing the mecha tanks, whose drivers worked to try and remove the claws from their earthy tombs.

Above iron spikes thudded into several points of the equalist's gondola, denting the iron plating on it's side and breaking several windows as the airship began to noticeably list a little as smoke started belching out of one of the propellers, one of which squealed and grinded as it tried to move with a spear lodged in the sparking mechanism. The police airship took the advantage and drifted closer towards the suffering machine, a trio of spikes flew out from it, spearing into the corners and midsection of the equalist gondola, winches back near their sources activated and the ropes connecting the projectiles back to the ship went taut, metal-clad figures hopped out of the windows of the police gondola, skidding across the wires and boarding the stricken airship.

A trio of metal benders tore themselves away from the melee, and ran across the field towards the line of immobilized machines, using their wires to cross the distance quickly, one of the machines groaned as it tipped back with the weight of one of them leaping onto the cockpit, with thick iron slabs protuding from their forearms, quicly pulverizing the front canopy of the machine.

After a few seconds of the brutal onslaught, the machine gave up altogether as it's lights winked off and the rumbling ceased. Another nearby swung a arm at the second metal bender, who dived forward and latched onto it's forearm, she crawled up it's length, using a metal blade to pierce the weak platinum plating of the machine, stabbing through circuits and internal gear clusters as she moved up onto it's shoulder. The driver urged the machine to shake her off, but the metal bender's blade was too deeply buried for the desperate tactic to work, the metal bender turned around and stabbed several holes into the engine assembly on the machine's back, causing the arm to slowly jerk to a halt, with the whole mecha tank following suite.

The last one managed to get one of it's claws free, and fired the heavy projectile at the third and final metalbender, who promptly skidded to a halt and raised both arms towards it, hands splayed out as it rushed towards him. He didn't even flinch as it drew closer, and suddenly he swept both arms to the side, the metal claw followed his movements, and turned away from him, spinning away for a few seconds before he took two steps forward and swept his arms up, holding them there as the claw rushed into the sky above him. The wire went taut as the driver tried retracting the claw, but before it could do anything he swept his arms downwards and forwards, and immediately the claw did the same, spearing into the mid section of the machine, tearing through the drive column, taking the entire upper half with it.

The cockpit released a muffled sigh as whoever was inside finally blacked out after the brutal treatment of their machine. The three officers rejoined and ran as one towards the rest of the line, giving Bolin and Sensha time to assist Asami.

She ducked under a right hook from her side, stepping around the man's back and unleashing a full discharge onto him, the man fell forwards into the grass with a soft muffled cry, smoke rising from a seared portion on his back. She leapt over his body and swept a leg out, catching another equalist and bringing them down to the ground, she went to release another charge when a foot slammed over her back, and she crumpled forwards, falling towards the downed equalist at her feet.

The one on the ground recovered and grabbed her shoulders as she fell, slamming a boot into her stomach and sending her crashing to the grass at his side. The agile blocker quickly hopped up, grabbing a bola from his belt and whipping it about, activating the electrical current flowing within the wire.

He took one step before being blindsided by a fist crashing into his jaw, he grunted with pain and then screamed as the bola wrapped around his wrist, Bolin's other hand crashed into his stomach, winding the man and sending him falling back onto the ground again, writhing in agony for a second before his head drooped onto the grass as he lost conciousness.

Bolin was about to bend down to lend Asami his hand when a boot crashed into his back, sending him tumbling forwards with a yelp, the last equalist standing moved towards the two of them when a blast of fire sent him tumbling into a tall patch of grass nearby, strong enough to knock him out. Sensha moved towards them, offering both hands for them to grab onto. Asami was light enough for her to hold onto with no trouble, but when she tried to pull Bolin up, she yelped as she crashed forwards, accidentally landing onto his chest. She nearly laughed when she saw the luminescent blush on both of the girl's cheeks.

Sensha quickly rolled off of him with a squeak, quickly standing up and brushing the grass off of her clothes, blushing furiously the whole time. A shadow fell on her as commander Makei eyed the three of them. "That's enough of that, young lady, we've got a city to take back."

* * *

_The stinging lashing of the rain was gone. But the dark was not. It was everywhere. No sound but his own small breaths, ragged and fleeting as the small child blindly moved through the complete darkness._

_It had been close. Always close. And he didn't like it. Never liked this place. _

_With a sniff the boy rounded a corner, gasping as rough and broken stones dug into his palm, easily drawing blood and making his eyes water as it started to sting. He kept going. Dad would know what to do. _

_Another wall, he slammed straight into it, seeing stars and feeling aches and pains all over as he shook his head, disorienting himself even further. The darkness thickened almost instantly around him as his head spun amidst the cold chills going down his spine. He ignored it best he could, and pressed down on his tongue to stop himself from crying._

_He kept going._

_The darkness seemed to stretch on and on in front of him, all he could do was follow it, not knowing when it would end. To his surprise the constricting darkness lifted all of a sudden just before he came upon the opening to a dimly lit chamber, dusty with the pictures along the walls dad liked to look at._

_He faltered at the threshold when his vision started to adjust to the dim light, watching as... something came into view, lying on the ground at the center of the room with another something standing over it. The boy rubbed his eyes as the standing figure turned to him with a open hand and a sword by its side, something dripping off of it._

_The boy blinked once. And when he opened his eyes it was gone. His eyes fell on the man lying on the ground, a pair of broken glasses next to him. He ran, desperate tears clouding his eyes. Kneeling over the man and breathing heavily, he looked at the man's wide eyes. And how frozen they were. "Dad?"_

_"Da-" he gently seized the man's shoulders and shook them once but he didn't move. "Dad. Come on!" _

_No answer. "Dad... please."_ _The boy closed his eyes-_

* * *

_Republic City, Waterfront._

And opened them. Every fiber of his being ached in some shape or form. Every thought going through him was about how being dead would be preferable to how he felt right now. A his tortured face stung, and he awoke with a hiss as the blurry figure towering over him folded her arms together, looking noticeably smaller than she usually did while wearing that armor.

Slowly, very slowly, he sat up, gritting his teeth a little and letting a small gasp escape when his belly burned with pain, and his arms ached with bruises all the way down their length. It hurt to blink as well, as his vision started to swim less, and he saw the cavernous and dark room he was in. He flinched and tried to whip his hand up for a blast of air when stars exploded before his eyes, and he groaned as his wrist hurt considerably. He looked down at it through half-closed eyes, seeing a ring of bruising visible on it, much darker and larger than the others visible on his body. He noticed his longcoat was rolled up nearby, his scabbard and sword laying on top of it.

The figure sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose in concerned frustration. "Why are all air benders the same?" she asked to no one in particular. It was then he noticed the White Lotus guards scattered around their corner of the large room, talking amongst each other or helping serve food to downtrodden people nearby.

He coughed as he made another attempt at sitting up again, his grimace less this time as he was used to the pain. "How did-"

"I was close to where you fell." she answered brusquely, picking up a armful of fresh bandages and dropping them onto his lap. "Here. You're doing them yourself this time." she sat on the box nearby, looking away from the boy as he picked one of the bandages with his good hand, unwrapping the old ones and replacing them in less then a minute, already a good hand at it. "What happened to Tenzin and his family?" he murmured, keeping focused on folding the old bandages up so as not to see the absolutely pained expression inevitably appearing Lin.

She buried her face in her hands. "Captured." she whispered. He glanced at her, grimacing as he saw the inummerable bruises standing out in stark relief on her pale skin, running up and down both arms. She fought hard to get away from them.

"Where?" he asked, letting his eyes slide towards the sword hidden in it's scabbard nearby.

"I don't know." she said, equal parts grief and frustration mixing in her soft whisper.

He nodded, pressing his lips together as the pain flared up when he shifted, swinging his feet over the bed and onto the floor. He looked down at the dirty concrete as he grabbed the boots nearby, careful not to move his sprained wrist.

She glanced at him with a fire growing in her eyes. "But I'm going to get them back."

A woman wearing light blue robes and a dark blue skullcap approached, eyes full of concern as she moved closer. She looked at Lin for a second, who shook her head, she nodded and drew a stream of water out of a bleached pouch slung on her back, marked with a red symbol inside a rectangle, the international symbol of a healer.

Protest didn't even cross his mind as the stream of water coalesced into a softly glowing blob, which quickly wrapped itself around his wrist and arm. He sighed with relief as he looked down at the floor. "Uh - thanks." he said, not sure what to say someone just doing their job.

The woman, no, _girl_, nodded as she focused on her work, guiding the blob up his arm and around his chest. "No problem, it's what I'm here for."

He didn't say anything else, keeping quiet as the haze in his mind went away with the aches and bruises on him. After a while the blob streamed back into her pouch, and she nodded her goodbye to the two of them, walking away before he got a chance to say anything. He tested if everything was ready by standing up, nodding appreciatively when nothing screamed at him or made him topple onto the concrete floor.

"He's going to the arena, most likely they'll be there as well." he stepped over the small cot, unrolling his long coat and placing his sword and scabbard on the thin mattress.

The woman didn't say anything as he shrugged on his long coat, staying silent as he got ready. After a few seconds, as he moved on to his sword belt she stood up, and gave him a curt nod. "They aren't the only reason you're going." she said, her tone slightly accusing as she walked past him to the table nearby, and the dark grey trench coat lying on it.

He stopped for a moment, sword halfway into it's sheath as he stared at the floor, than at her, "No. They aren't." he confirmed, even though his eyes already gave her the answer.

"I'm not gonna waste any words but these: get in line, kid." she did up the lower three buttons on the heavy coat, and picked up a baton nearby, stowing it in one of the many large pockets.

No further words needed to be said, as they both left the cot and bench behind, walking towards one of the large doors letting the rising sun cast it's light into the large abandoned warehouse.

* * *

_The Pro-Bending Arena._

The applause washed over him, muffled as it was by the crimson curtain he stood behind, Tarrin stood nearby, keeping a close watch on him to thwart any attempts by oppressors to stop the revolution at it's source. He looked up as his lieutenant nodded.

And behind the mask, he allowed himself a little smile at a realized dream.

* * *

潮


	30. The Rally, and The Showdown

Excitement rolled through the air, mingling together with a thirst for a new future, and colliding headlong into the newfound sense of hope the gathered people of the crowd had, the hope that finally with the hated bending establishment taken down, they could finally win a victory for non-benders everywhere, not just in the United Republic.

The crowd chatted among themselves as they slowly filed across the pier towards the golden-clad building, once an overt symbol of the might of bending, now the site of their final victory over the old government.

Although the crowd wasn't completely devoid of anyone gifted with the bending arts. The boy kept his chin tucked close to his chest, and had his hands stuck in the pockets on the black long coat as he shuffled along with the rest of the crowd, a tall woman with minty green eyes and two scars on her cheek walking alongside him, scanned for any of the masked equalists who would be guarding the event.

She didn't need to look far to find mecha tanks, as at least four of them had already taken up posts on either side of the entrance, keeping a close eye on the crowd being admitted in by a group of unmasked equalists, among them a man with black sideburns and wild yellow eyes who yelled into a loudspeaker as much as he could, not taking a single breath so far.

Lin found herself casting a paranoid eye on the long and thin object strapped onto the boy's back, a dirty grey sheet wrapped around it to hide what it was. She hoped that the guards at the entrance wouldn't examine it closely, that they had their guard down on the dawn of their triumph.

The crowd shifted and a largely built man made her stumble forward, and her eyes flashed dangerously as thoughts of putting him in a choke slam arose, quickly they disappeared, as she focused on not drawing attention to themselves.

Slowly the crowd swept them towards the entrance to the arena, the double doors thrown wide open to allow in as many people as possible for the coming rally. She noticed with relief that the guards at the entrance were letting people through as quickly as they could, and she guessed that all they were really looking for was a colored piece of clothing that benders were required to wear on their person while out in public, denoting what element they were of.

She grimaced as she looked up, seeing yet another airship take up position above the arena, joining the two others already in place, hovering on either side of the pier to dissuade any dissident attacks from the sea.

They were near the entrance now, only a few dozen meters away from the warm interior of the arena, lit up spectacularly in a modest display of 'we own you now'. The voice of the guard admitting people through became clear as they joined the double file line, consequently moving much more quickly than both of them would have liked. Up ahead the guard glanced past his checkboard at a mother and the excited child clutching her hand. "You guys are good, go in." the girl giggled as the mother smiled at the man as she was dragged in by the girl.

He watched them go for a second before turning towards a group of people, all wearing ragged clothes in various states of disrepair. "Come on through... okay he's fine... welcome to the new republic city, head on through. Next!"

Tai felt the urge to tuck his chin in even more when they drew next to the guard, and in plain view of every single blocker and mecha tank watching the entrance. He examined the two of them for anything that would mark them as benders. He squared his shoulders as he waited for the man's gaze to pass over him, and was about to step forward when he said a simple phrase that would spell certain failure for them. "Where are you from?" he said suspiciously, looking directly into Lin's minty green eyes. She returned the favour, with barbs attached. "Earth Kingdom. I escaped from the Bei Fong estate."

The lie worked, as the man nodded eagerly, obviously sympthasizing with her. "Alright."

She nodded at him, and subtly grabbed Tai's wrist, dragging him into the large foyer that lead to the main floor of the arena. The room was filled with a massive crowd of people, who were packed ear-to-ear as they were ushered into either the tunnel, or the hallway running around the perimeter of the arena itself.

spot in the stands above the stage, there's a stairwell that can get me backstage, where Tenzin and the kids should be." the crowd moved faster, and the people in front of them thinned out as they split off in three directions.

"I'll create a distraction in the main crowd, it should clear out the area of anyone not wearing a mask." as he said this, his fingers unconsciously clenched, they passed a column with a tall tray shoved up against it, the golden leaf peeling off the edges. He spotted a unattended piece of paper and a pencil sitting on it. Without thinking, and not really knowing why, he stuffed both of them into a pocket, feeling that he might need them later on. The line of people in front broke up, moving into the hallway and tunnel. He glanced at her. "I'll see you."

She nodded and turned away from him, leaving down the hallway wounding around the right side of the arena. The boy waited for a few seconds, going over what exactly he was going to do once he was in the crowd. More than likely Korra and Mako would be around the place somewhere, but it would take too long to search the entire building for the two of them, and he would be drawing attention to himself the entire time.

His planning was interrupted by a shove to the back which made him stumble back into the crowd, sweeping him into the dark mouth of the tunnel and the pitch black stretch within. He was packed in tight on all sides, but he managed to tug a little on the end of his disguised scabbard. making sure it was snug and secure against his back, trying not to think of how terribly easy it would be for a stray arm or hand to knock it off of his back, the cloth flying off as well. As he reached the rough halfway point between the bright lights at both ends of the tunnel, his thoughts went dark as they kept going to Amon and Tarrin, particularly over how he was going to deal with the terrorist leader in full view of a large portion of the city's residents.

More than likely, doing this, would brand him a criminal, and he would be hunted down by the police force. Not that they would have any choice in the matter, they had little love for Amon as well, but in order to appease the masses, the ruling council would have to make someone the scapegoat. And who better than a orphan boy who assasinated the leader of the equalists in blind revenge?

He tried not to not to think about that sort of stuff, as his thoughts did a U-turn and settled on his home at Air Temple Island, and more specifically his friends there. And her. He shook _that _one away, trying to stop it from growing into a major distraction, turning him from what he wanted to do for so long. Yet it hung around, refusing to go away, and he found that as the crowd moved him closer and closer to the uproar coming from the cavernous interior ahead, he wasn't so certain about doing this.

A growl escaped him as he angrily clamped down on the rebellious thinking, this was something he had to do, and damn the consequences, damn his friends, damn her! A dark look settled on him as the walls of the tunnel began to brighten, and widen a little as it opened out into a pathway leading directly to the main platform that the pro-benders usually performed on. He didn't fail to see the blockers standing on either side of the walkway to the main platform, all eyes turned inward to examine the thick column of people feeding into the growing mass standing and cheering loudly ahead, all of them staring at a brightly lit stage, with a massive poster on the back wall of Amon and three airships behind him, looking onward onto a new day.

The urge to laugh nearly overwhelmed him, and he barely managed to quash it when one of the guards stared at him for a few seconds, reaching for Tai's disguised scabbard. A second of panic, then he quickly and very subtly side stepped the guard's hand, waving his fingers a little at a point near the man's feet. He hadn't noticed that the boy had already disappeared into the crowd when he took a step back, and was instantly swept to the floor when his foot was suddenly wrenched out from under him. The other guards shook their heads in disappointment.

"Good one, Lagi." one of them said.

The crowd screamed at this point, drowning out any hope of thinking of a plan of action, massive floodlights perched on the corners of the main platform switched on with an impressive click, and shone their dizzying display on the stage ahead, which highlighted the smoke beginning to cover it's floor. It was honestly too much to hope that it was a fire when triumphant music blared over the speaker system, rousing the crowd to even greater heights of ecstasy, stirring them up in preparation for the big show.

His eyes kept scanning for that white mask showing up on the stage any minute now, and sometimes they darted around, trying to find a pair of blue eyes somewhere in the massive room, most likely here for the same reason. The anger-filled part of him snorted at that thought, and kept turning him to thoughts of shoving a blade in that bastard's chest. Of course, the consequences weren't being considered at all, that was all secondary.

A quiet sigh escaped him as he folded his arms, looking down at his feet while the people around him cheered and roared, sometimes raising his arm for him. He fought the urge to blast them in the chest when they did that. After a few minutes of this, the music ceased, and the room went quiet as the crowd expectantly waited for their savior to appear. He did as well, although definitely with slightly different intentions.

Snippets of a conversation between two people nearby found their way to his ears. "-o be free! I've been wanting this for years!"

He caught a muffled sob at the end of that sentence, and the speaker's larger companion squeezed his elbow. "Hey, she'd be proud of ya for sticking it out this far." Tai's eyes unintentionally softened as the man replied back. "Just wish she was here with us." the two of them moved closer to one another for comfort, and the boy sighed despondently, wondering just what was so bad about the current state of things if a _terrorist _and _murderer_ was the best thing available.

Giving up on listening to their conversation, he looked up in time to see a airship pass straight over the dome, the whump from the propellers rattling the glass a little as the crowd fell silent, even the floodlights turned themselves off for what was about to come. Tai tensed up, calming himself as more smoke covered the stage, in preparation for the main event.

* * *

"Korra, it's about to start!" he motioned for her to come over to the window, she nodded, grunting a little as she released her grip on the unconscious blocker, letting his body crumple to the floor of the dusty little closet on top of his pal. The immature part of her sniggered for a second, before she quickly darted across the hall, heading to his side on the observation balcony. She grimaced as she studied the stage, not seeing any trace of Amon and his lackeys at all. "Mako-" she started when the lights in the arena dimmed, and the smoke enveloping the stage began to clear and thin out, revealing 9 smoky figures standing side by side in a staggered V, not moving at all as the crowd began to bay with excitement once more.

A knot began tying itself in her stomach as she watched the stage with apprehension, wondering if their coming here was a good idea. Two of them against a whole army? She suppressed sigh for Mako's sake, trying not to let her doubts show as she thought the general's advice sounded more and more correct.

This was a stupid plan.

She took a deep breath, trying to refill her confidence with a quick and dirty calming trick Tenzin taught her. Instead that only seemed to increase her anxiety, and soon enough she was just standing there, frozen and a little pale as she stared at the white mask slowly materializing out of the smoke, like staring at the facestealer itself.

A strong grip enveloped her wrist, and just like that all her concerns and fears were drained away, replaced by his reassuring smile instead. She wouldn't tell him how forced it looked when they got out of here. That thought brightened her mood a little, and she looked forward to whatever came next after defeating Amon, clutching onto it for a lifeline so as not to completely lose her confidence.

Still, those sour thoughts and ideas never left her, and her grip on the rail on relaxed a little as she watched the smoke fully clear away, revealing Amon and a retinue of his followers, including _Tarrin_ she noted with a shiver, fighting the urge to touch her shoulder where the old wound was, reminding herself that she was okay. Which led her to another thing, she scanned the crowd below, trying in vain to locate someone who definitely would be here, waiting for his chance to strike.

A quick prayer for her friend formed, and she decided it should go to the luckiest spirit in existence.

* * *

"My fellow citizens." he took four precise steps forward, distancing himself from his most loyal followers. He snatched up the microphone from it's stand with a practiced hand, taking a few meandering steps to the right to show his utter ease and confidence for the crowd.

Deciding that his pause was long enough, he did a crisp turn on his heel, calmly walking back towards the center of the stage as he raised the microphone to his mouth. "Today is a glorious occasion, one that will be heard and told to all non-benders across the five nations. Your children, and your children's children will be in awe of their parents." he paused again, extending his index finger and sweeping it amongst the gathered faces of the crowd, noting that one of them was staring directly at him with a dangerous glare. "For each and every one of you helped usher in a new world, one that promises _equality _for all."

Another pause, and as soon as his words had finished echoing across the cavernous arena, the crowd went nuts, roaring and applauding at each and every honeyed word coming from their leader and savior.

Behind his mask a rare smile formed as he felt the gratification of achieving a long-held dream approaching, he nodded with each round of applause, taking it all in stride as he placed one hand behind his back, and casually walked back and forth across the stage as the roaring died down a little in anticapation for his next words. "With your hard effort and good hearts, the corrupt and lazy bending council have been overthrown, and will be left in the dust as we march towards prosperity and a better future!"

The crowd went almost feral with that, practically begging for him to continue their shared dream of a better future.

And he wasn't one to disappoint. "I know that each and every one of you had to make some hard choices in our path to equality, and that a lot of you are afraid of reprisal from the benders. They are human beings like us, and now that we are in charge, we should make every effort possible to assist them in finding new homes, and taking new places alongside us, their brethren, in building a new republic city. One that will hold a fresh start and a equal chance for all, one that will hold no prejudices towards race or gender." he paused as he tilted his head slightly to the side, making it appear as if he was swaying in time to his own speech. "A _modern_ society." he finished, letting the exuberance of the crowd wash over him again, giving a vibrant energy to his steps, and a genuine feeling of happiness to his voice.

He wanted this. He wanted what they wanted. Even if he wasn't one of them, he still had every right to stand by them as a equal. He didn't want the evils of the few to affect the lives of the many. He had too much experience with what someone gifted with the bending arts could do to hurt the world. "I only want the best for each and every one of you, I only want to stop the mistakes of the past, the mistakes that hurt, the mistakes that kill. The mistakes that took my family from _me_." the crowd quietened at his tender words, most likely sympathizing all too well with the grief of a loved one being hurt or taken from them by a bender.

His dark eyes flitted to a small movement in the center of the crowd, and they narrowed on a boy wearing a longcoat, slowly pushing his way closer and closer to the stage. Another experience he needed to deal with.

He looked up at the glass dome as he continued his walk, and his eyebrow arched a little when he spotted two of his blockers standing on one of the balconies overlooking the stage, he looked at the guard placement, and they were at the wrong post. He looked at the two of them more closely, and noted that neither of them were blockers at all, the one on the left's stance was too coiled and stoic, while the others was heavy and grounded, both completely unsuitable for what he trained his blockers to perform and face.

His suspicions were confirmed when the one on the right pulled off her mask, and he saw the slightly panicked eyes of the avatar staring down at him, not quite managing to instill any fear in him. She was just a girl.

"That's a lie Amon!" the crowd gasped and whirled as one to the owner of the voice, all of their eyes now focused on the two teens standing on the balcony, suspicion rising in their loud and outraged murmurs. He chuckled to himself before the avatar pointed a accusing finger at him, falsely believing she had the authority of the spirits themselves. "Or should I call you _Noatak?_"

Amon narrowed his eyes, as questions shouted inside of his mind. How did she know that? What else did she know? Has she found out the deal between him and-

Those thoughts were obliterated with a slight tilt of the head, all that was needed in succeeding at making her eyes widen in a newfound panic as she instantly doubted her own words.

His faithful lieutenant leant in close. "You want her taken out?" he murmured, nodding at Tarrin and the blockers next to him. They all tensed up in preparation to move when Amon held up his hand, stopping them instantly. "No." the lieutenant didn't argue, trusting him completely as he stepped back into line with the others. Tarrin however, looked at him with a small hint of concern.

The savior of non-benders everywhere walked forwards to the edge of the stage, addressing the murmuring and confused crowd directly, looking straight at them to instill confidence and control. "Everyone calm down, we have nothing to fear from the avatar. She is a sister of us all, let's hear what she has to say." mockingly he nodded at her, the same way a teacher would nod at a child for them to being their little speech.

He watched as the little girl gulped, squaring her shoulders as she looked down at the hostile crowd, glancing at the pretty boy for strength before nodding to herself. "Amon has been lying to you. The spirits didn't give him the power to take bending away, he uses _bloodbending _to do it." she pointed down at him, trying to make him balk with such a simply worded accusation. "He's a waterbender!"

His teeth ground a little as the fickle crowd gasped in surprise, and questions sprang among them, making their faith and loyalty a little uncertain. He was about to change that. "This is nonsense." the lieutenant whispered in his ear, giving a nod of support as he stared up at the avatar, eyes narrowed as he calculated routes of getting to her.

A small look of relief took place on the avatar as she took his momentary silence for a sign that he was beaten. Not that easily. He chuckled, and the deep baritone of his unique tone instantly too the crowd's attention, washing any doubt they had away, and making the avatar's grow in strength. "You're desperate, Avatar. Making up stories about me is a pathetic last resort."

Those biting words cowed her a little, but he supressed a sigh as she bristled. "Your family wasn't killed by a firebender." she looked away at him, having another go at swaying the crowd. Out of the corner of his eye, the lieutenant nodded to him as Amon saw a squad of blockers creeping closer and closer to the balcony, using the edging of the stands to stay undetected. "His father was _Yakone_!" he fought the urge to roll his eyes as the crowd gasped again, instead instinctively narrowing them at the mention of his father's name.

But she wasn't finished. "And his brother is... Councilman Tarrlok!" a familiar feeling of sadness flooded through him, and he found himself thinking about his brother sitting there in that cell, alone and broken. Another experience he needed to deal with. He noticed the look of doubt on his lieutenant's face, which quickly changed to one of anger as he fixed him with a accusing stare, for the first time doubtful his true intentions.

He would correct that. He nodded sagely for a few seconds, seemingly agreeing with her words, he took a few steps forward, holding the microphone at his side while he reached a hand up to the side of his mask. He hadn't done this in a long time. "An amusing tale, but I will show you the truth." with a single motion the string holding one side of his mask was undone, and the silken length tickled his ear a little as it fell away, trailing after the mask being pulled away from his face.

The air in the arena tickled the pale skin on his handsome features as the crowd gasped once more, this time after seeing the terrible angry red trail of scarring that cut from the bottom of his left cheek towards the top right corner of his broad face, stopping just above his midnight blue eyes. Everyone's eyes widened and gasps broke out again, and the crowd's confusion changed to anger as they looked at the avatar. He pointed at the unsightly wound. "_This_ is what a _firebender _did to me."

That sealed it for the crowd, murmurs broke out amongst them as a person wearing a red patch on his black scarf pointed accusingly at the girl. "The Avatar's lying!"

No one in the crowd noticed that the black clothed boy had gotten even closer to the stage, standing just behind the edge of the crowd as he stared at Amon, daggers in his eyes, and a literal blade on his back.

Amon watched as the boy's attention wavered, and he watched the girl on the balcony with worry, mouthing something that only he would know. The crowd began to shift angrily, and boos and insults were being thrown at the avatar, who's eyes widened as she realized how much trouble she put herself into. All this time since their first confrontation under Aang's statue and she still hadn't learned a _thing_. Such a shame.

* * *

She backed away from the railing, chest heaving as panick overwhelmed her. She had no idea what to do, no plan, no advantage. She had just wrecked everyone's chances. Inside everything screamed bloody hate at her, for blindly rushing in yet again, for ruining the carefully built advantage they had over the equalists. She felt like curling up and just crying, but she couldn't break down, not yet. A hand grabbed her, and she looked into Mako's concerned eyes, trying to get some measure of comfort and security out of them. She was failing miserably.

"We've said what we had to. Let's get out of here!" he tugged her towards the door, reaching up a hand to pull up his mask as she dumbly followed, still shocked and numbed at what she had done. He came to a stop in front of her, a snarl on his features as a group of blockers dropped down in front of the doorway, bolas spinning in their hands as others above covered them. They were trapped.

Her blood chilled as she glanced down at Amon with genuine fear in her eyes, silently praying to every spirit she knew that something would come along, something would put things right...

"I wouldn't leave just yet, Avatar. You'll miss the main event." every mocking word beat her down more and more, demolishing every shred of self-confidence she had and turning her into a hollow shell. She felt compelled to turn around, to watch as a platform behind the masked man up, bringing four kneeling figures with it, sorted from shortest to tallest.

Her eyes widened even further, and her mind almost completely shut down when she saw the absolutely terrified looks on Ikki and Meelo, and the looks of sadness on Jinora and Tenzin. "No... they got away." she stated more to herself, further driving in the point that she _failed._ She found herself turning to Mako, once again searching for any kind of solace in him. "W-we saw them get away!"

Everything was going wrong. Nothing at all could get them out of this, there was no one else here but the two of them. And once again, Korra could only blame herself. She dared not look at Mako again, not wanting to feel the sting of his trusting look on her mind. She didn't deserve it. The crowd below continued to throw insults at the two of them, but those were muted and nearly unintelligible as she found herself closing up, wanting to shut herself away from it all. But Naga wasn't around for her to escape on.

The rasp of a blade, loud and crisp, sounded across the arena, silencing the murmuring crowd's insults at first. She didn't want to know why that was. She barely registered that the front half of the crowd was folding on itself, backing away as much as possible from the dark clothed figure who stood on his lonesome, eyes glowering with hatred as he held a double edge sword out by his side, the light from the morning sun outside catching on the reflective metal.

Unexpected as it was. A seed of hope began to spring inside her, trying to push past the worthlessness and self-hatred to give her one thought.

The thought that they had just one chance now.

* * *

"AMON!" he shouted, with all the strength he had. At the sound of his voice, Ikki and Meelo looked up hopefully, while Tenzin and Jinora looked relieved. He focused all of his hatred on Amon, using it to resist the temptation to throw a reassuring look at the girl on the balcony as he stood his ground before the terrorist. Tai noticed his brother taking a few steps forward, one hand on a sword as he readied himself to leap to Amon's aid.

"Ah. We meet again, boy." the bastard affixed him with a emotionless stare, impressive for someone no longer under the safety of a mask. The boy ignored the whispers and murmurs of the crowd behind him, keeping both eyes on the hated figure standing on the stage, utterly calm and in control.

His grip clenched on the handle of his sword. That was going to change. The boy chuckled bitterly, much to the surprise of the crowd behind him and the avatar and her companion up above. "What a great way to begin again huh? Ruining the lives of three kids and their father, who did nothing to hurt you?" his biting words made the murmurs grow louder, and a flash of discomfort showed on the lieutenant's features before disappearing as he squared his shoulders, looking expectantly at his commander.

"You are correct, they have done nothing at all." the man's scarred face tipped upwards as he looked at the crowd of confused people behind the boy. "They have sat there on their _little island_, while we have been persecuted and exploited by the corrupt government. But that is expected of them, for the air nomads did _nothing_ to combat the fire nation in the hundred year war that ravaged our _world_."

The boy bristled at the man's blatant twisting of history. "You can't seriously expect them to swallow that _crap_." he took a step forward, fingers scrunching and re-scrunching the slip of paper he held in his closed hand. "They're innocent! They haven't done anything to you, so you take everything from them?", the murmurs behind grew louder still, going into half whispered conversations and arguments as the crowd started shifting again. A barely-there flash of surprise ran across Amon's eyes, being quashed just as quickly. The lieutenant grew increasingly uneasy as he looked at Amon. "Maybe they should be spared, sir." he whispered with a tone of caution.

He nodded curtly and took a step forward, still looking out at the crowd. "My friends. I apologize. I have not told the whole truth." the crowd stopped shifting, gasping as they all turned to him, looking to someone to latch onto with their dreams and desires. He pointed down at Tai. "Not every member of my family was taken from me during that fateful night."

Tai scowled at the man's words. He lost the right to be called family a long time ago. He fought against catching Korra's eye, trying to stay focused on the murderer. He noticed Tarrin shifted a little uneasily at Amon's words. And that gave the boy an idea. "You're right." he said, just loud enough to carry to everyone gathered here. "This man used to be part of my family. But not by blood, he took care of me any my brother while our parents were away, staying with us for three years after we took care of his wounds from the road." he didn't give anybody a chance to gasp again, instead hammering in the point with a accusing finger at Amon. "But four years ago, my family died during a fire that burnt down our farm, a fire that _he_ caused!"

The boy kept going, fueled by the grief building up inside of him. "My father died that night, and my brother disappeared, who I didn't see again until a few months ago." the blade shook as tears stung his eyes. "He betrayed our trust! All because we were _benders."_

Silence filled the arena, even murmurs were non-existent as the boy hung his head, looking down at the floor, not noticing the brief look of guilt on Amon. He tilted his head up slightly, seeing the absolutely shocked look on each of the four air benders, he didn't say anything else, merely staying silent as he stared down at the ground, hopelessly caught up in the horrible events of that night. His eyes flitted upwards, spotting a flurry of movement at the back of one of the stands as a grey-clothed figure ran through a door leading into the structure the stage jutted out from.

Movement. He looked up to see Korra and Mako standing close to each other, looking like they were working out something to turn things around. "I have done terrible things in my quest for equality, and the sacrifice of your father still affects me every day, what he did... he gave his life to ensure everyone has a equal chance to live-"

"Shut up." the blade trembled as well as the boy's hands, as he looked up slowly, a look of impossible blackness on his features. His grey eyes pierced into the terrorist's, and for a moment Amon felt something he hadn't felt in a long time. Fear. "You ripped my family apart for no _reason_, so SHUT THE HELL UP!" his chest heaved as emotions collided within, each one vying for supremacy and control of the next few minutes of Tai's life. "You've threatened my new _family. _You've threatened _her_. You aren't a man, you _piece of shit_." he hissed, knuckles whitening with each word as his blade arm stopped wavering, and he pointed the deadly tip straight at Amon's face.

He took a step forward, about to break into a run when a massive pressure slammed into the back of his knee, and he screamed as his vision exploded with stars. He crumpled to the floor, gritting his teeth as he tried to drag himself forwards, failing to get a purchase on the smooth metal as his blade clattered down next to him. A hooded figure looked down at him, fury on his face as as he placed the baton on his belt. From out of nowhere, two blockers grabbed his arms each, one of them kicking away the sword, sending it sliding towards the edge of the platform, only stopping when half of it's blade stuck out over the water.

A single gasp rang out in the arena, as the crowd stayed silent, backing away even further from the hooded young man as he walked back to Amon's side, nodding. Through the red haze of pain, the boy watched as Amon squared his shoulders. Tonight, I rid the world of airbending, forever." he raised his arms up, as the uncertain crowd slowly burst out into cheering and applause. At a unspoken signal, the two blockers began to drag the boy towards the platform.

Tai could barely raise his head as he saw the absolutely panicked look on Korra as she stared down at the stage, devastated at what to do. She did the one thing she never failed at. "Amon, let them go!" she demanded.

"You're welcome to come down here and try to stop me." he said calmly, watching as the defiant boy was dragged past him towards Tenzin.

The master airbender gave him a reassuring look, but the boy either couldn't see it or didn't want to. He had failed so easily, again.

Amon walked towards the edge of the stage again, relishing the new wave of confidence and vigor the crowd gave off, seemingly already having blown off the minor interruption to their victory. He swayed slightly, intoxicated a little by how much faith and trust they had in him, not even questioning what he was about to do to the five air benders kneeling in fearful silence behind him. Time to teach the avatar a lesson. "The Avatar needs to be reminded of the power I _possess._" as he said that, the crowd went wild again, cheering on their savior as he turned on his heel and walked slowly towards the airbenders, purposefully slowing down as he advanced ominously towards the five of them, staring at each and every one of them with the look of fate itself.

The boy for his part stared down at the floor, downcast as Amon's shadow loomed larger and larger over him. He didn't even react or fight as the hated bastard walked behind him, the white mask firmly in place once more, making him look more like a vengeful spirit than a person. His view of the floor shifted, changing into the warm colors of the glass dome above, through which the sun was beginning to shine down. He felt the man's thumb on the center of his forehead, and he couldn't suppress the shiver as the man placed his other hand on the boy's shoulder. The man took a deep breath, and the boy's eyes went wide as something flowed into him, something black and oily that spread from the man's touch through the rest of his body. He shivered constantly as he felt an integral part of him beginning to slip away, fading from the black oily mass that grew larger and larger, gnawing at the boy's very being.

A blue flash of light burned away the darkened feeling, and immediately he felt lighter and more himself when Amon's grip on him disappeared, rolling to avoid a bolt of lightning aimed at his chest. The crackle of it's passing over his head set the boy's hairs on end, and his skin itched as he fell forwards, gasping for air as slowly his body returned to it's normal state. Whatever that was, it wasn't _natural_.

Abandoning their posts in front of the airbenders, the blockers shifted towards the edge of the stage, bolas spinning as Korra and Mako ran down the wall towards them, using jets of flame to keep them steady and aloft as they neared the stage. Almost as one mind they leapt off at the same time, kicking blasts and streams of fire towards the stage, scattering the unprepared blockers and forcing them away from the airbenders. The boy took his chance and quickly leapt up, sprinting towards the edge of the stage, focusing on where his sword had dropped to. He twisted to avoid a kick from the lieutenant, and blasted him back with a short jet of wind before leaping off the stage, rolling to lessen the impact on the hard metal of the main platform as he straightened, extending an open hand to the weapon, even though it was ten or so metres away from his touch. He ignored the screams of terror and fear as the room began to empty of spectators, fearful of the destruction an avatar and a firebender were capable of wreaking.

He concentrated and took a deep breath. The sword was whipped towards his waiting hand by a invisible hand of wind, and he sighed with relief as his fingers enclosed around the familiar black leather of the handle, taking comfort that they were where they should be. He looked up at the stage, seeing Mako and Korra launch blast after blast of fire, keeping the equalists penned to the right half of the stage, his eyes narrowed when he saw that Tarrin was nowhere to be found. He banished the thought away, focusing on Tenzin and the kids as he ran towards the edge of the main platform, leaping the distance between it and the stage.

A bola whipped towards him from the side, but he easily twisted around it as he ducked underneath a sloppily aimed blast of fire, closing towards the four airbenders while Korra and Mako kept the blockers busy. His foot slipped on the smooth boards, and he nearly tumbled the rest of the way towards Tenzin's side. he knelt next to his master, dropping the sword and producing a jet of flame from his index finger. Tenzin nodded and presented his bound hands, and Tai quickly melted through the thick iron chains, and a few seconds later the charred and flame-licked metal clattered to the floor. Before standing up to assist Korra and Mako, Tenzin placed a hand on Tai's shoulder, affixing him with a proud look before joining the two teens running interference nearby, sweeping a massive gust of wind so strong that Tai would struggle to even produce one like it.

Meelo, Jinora and Ikki's shouting roused him, and he shook his head as he ran over to their sides, quickly burning through the ropes and shepherding them over to the back corner of the stage, away from the fighting at the front. As he dropped Ikki's hand in preparation to run into the melee, they all stopped him by wrapping themselves around his legs. His cheeks burned, and he turned away from them so they didn't see it, and ran towards his sword, sweeping it into his grip as he blasted a quick stream of wind at an advancing blocker nearby, making him stumble back a metre or so. His spirit dropped a little as he watched Amon dodge flame after flame from Korra and Mako, easily twisting and ducking under them as he advanced forwards, forcing Mako and Korra closer and closer to the edge of the stage, giving them little room to maneuver in. It rose when Tenzin swept both arms out for a second, then pushed them forwards, commanding a spiraling mass of wind to slam into the terrorist's chest, too fast for him to dodge as it sent him tumbling through his blockers and off the edge of the stage.

The four of them ran towards the kids, Mako and Korra breathing heavily as they nodded their greetings at Tai. "Are you okay?" she asked bluntly, forcing Tai to nod quickly, and clamp down on the thoughts that screamed at him to say no. She nodded and looked at Tenzin. "Where's Pema and the baby?" her face fell a little as he sighed and looked at her.

"In prison." he said simply, obviously not too keen on dwelling on the topic.

Korra saw this and nodded again. "Bei Fong?" Tenzin sighed as he looked at the floor for a moment, beginning to shake his head when they heard commotion in the hallways behind the stage. Everyone stared as yells and thuds came through, while Tai merely dusted himself off and ran over to the doorway, sticking his head through.

The boy stepped back, letting Lin step through. Tenzin smiled with relief, the woman returning itl as she walked towards them. Meelo in particular wrapped around her leg. "My hero returns!" he shouted, muffled in the dark folds of her pants.

A grin formed on her as she looked down at him, before kneeling down and placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm glad all of you are safe." after a few seconds she straightened again, a determined glint in her eye as she looked at Tenzin. "Pema needs you."

He smiled at her. "Are you coming with us?" he asked her as they moved towards the hallway.

"Of course." she answered, without any hesitation or doubt.

Mako followed them in, throwing back glances at the stage. "Hate to interrupt, but they're recovering." he nodded at Korra.

She looked at the floor for a moment before placing a hand on Tenzin's shoulder, and looked at him and Lin. "Get them out of here. We'll create a diversion." her master nodded, and turned with Lin to begin running down the hallway, the kids following closely behind.

Meelo stopped for a moment. "PRISON BREAK!" he shouted triumphantly, punching the air before being dragged by Jinora away from the three teens.

As they disappeared around the corner, Korra looked at the two boys, Tai in particular. "Was wondering when you were going to show up." she confidently said, folding her arms together and tilting her head.

He was about to answer, but instead shouted a warning. She turned around, eyes widening when she saw the wickedly black blade slicing through the air towards her, a hooded young man guiding it towards her chest. Mako's hands flared as he got a flame ready, but he would be too slow. Tai was near the doorway, and he quickly spotted another one on the opposite wall, leading into a darkened storage area of some kind. Thinking quickly he ran forward, using a blast of air to shunt him off the ground, he spear tackled Tarrin in the side, and they both tumbled into the darkness, lost to Korra and Mako.

"Get out of here!" Tai shouted, before being silenced by a punch to the gut.

* * *

**A/N**

And THEN THE DRAMA STARTED.

Getting close to the end now, just two more chapters or so, then it's onwards to book 2! Now just to clear things up, Tai is _not_ related by blood to Amon, his family simple took the man in for a few years, and he became family in the process. Just wanted to say that to clear the issue up.

Well, for now, please review and criticize mah story. Every little bit counts!


	31. The Brothers, and Moving Forward

潮

* * *

The smoothness of the floor didn't do much to his advantage, making Tai's low chances sinking even further as he tumbled and slid further into the almost pitch black room, catching glimpses of a pair of blue eyes widen in alarm, before swinging to focus on something in the hallway.

He picked himself up, one palm pointed forwards, the other to the side in case his brother came from the side. His breaths sounded abnormally loud, and filled up his ears as the only sound being made in the dark room. Slowly, he took a step back as he threw a glance at the shelves behind him, something to focus on to keep himself oriented.

It was incredibly dark, and he found it difficult to pierce through the murky lighting to spot Tarrin. Who still hadn't showed himself.

Using the calm to his advantage, he carefully reached a hand towards his sword's handle, fingers slowly closing around the rough leather stripping and wiggling it out of the sheath a little, in preparation for what would probably the fight of his life.

The darkness was still there, and the silence eventually forced him to speak up, to at least try and avoid having to hurt his only living relative.

Tai licked the dryness off of his lips, keeping his head moving to watch for any movement in the impenetrable shadows. "Wanna talk about this?" he ventured, his words ringing alone in the metal confines, reverberating off the walls and back towards his ears.

He stiffened as a blur moved from one shelf to the other, making Tai think twice about standing in such an open space. Thoughts of a lost home came without his permission, and a soft sigh escaped him. "Tarrin. _Please._" He couldn't stop the words tumbling out, forgetting for a moment that his brother had already made his mind up long ago.

But his words rang hollow once again, alone in the large open space he stood in.

A whisper of leather on metal alerted him, and he whipped around, before throwing himself back as a keen black edge sliced through the air, just missing his ear as he thudded to the floor. A second later, another one came down out of the darkness, falling straight towards him. He lifted his hand and pushed the air forwards, shunting himself into a slide backwards, rocketing towards a metal shelf.

He tossed a glance behind him, making a quick calculation as he spotted the gaps between some of the machinery stacked on the shelves, he mentally counted down, reaching one just as the shelf loomed above his head. He placed his palm flat on the floor, pushing at the air below violently, he was pushed upwards by the immense force in the small area, and sailed cleanly through a gap on the bottom level of the shelf.

As he twisted through the air, he snaked a hand towards his sword's handle, closing around it and pulling. The bright metal sang sharply and clearly as it slid against the rubbed raw leather inside, and as he touched down on the floor again, he held it out to the side, focusing on the darkness on the other side of the shelves.

He measured his breathing as he sat crouched for a few seconds, tensely anticipating those black blades slicing through the shelves towards him. He was cruelly rewarded, when one of them rocketed through the gap he threw himself through, a gloved hand holding onto its brown handle, protected by a rectangular hand guard made of beaten brass, with thick studs dotting the front. He twisted to the side, eyes following the blade's motion for a moment before it was pulled back, replaced by a fresh one coming from another gap nearby. He grunted as he dropped to the floor, eyes widening as the sword was pulled back almost instantly, and a black blur dove through the gap.

Tarrin's eyes were cold as he stabbed downwards with the other blade, not even blinking as it jabbed towards his little brother's chest. Tai rolled underneath the shelf, using the thin metal as a shield while he pressed himself into the thin space between the shelf and the floor. His heart skipped several bets as the metal squealed, being impaled by alternating blades. Tai clamped down on his fear and willed himself into motion as the blades stabbed down in random spots around his body. They were taken away, and he didn't stop moving as he spotted grey eyes boring into him, withdrawing only to be replaced by a black tip stabbing into the cramped and low space.

He splayed his hand out, pushing at the air to send him rocketing out from under the shelf and sliding back across the floor in the open middle of the room. He pushed at the ground and rolled, springing into a ready stance as he noticed his breathing had gotten slightly laboured.

Watching as Tarrin dived through the gap, he forced his breathing to slow, so he could focus and keep track of his brother, who calmly drew closer and closer, his boots clacking against the floor as each hand held a sword in a firm grip, tips nearly scraping marks into the floor.

Worms of doubt crawled through him as he took a step forward, leaning slightly to better ground himself as he planted himself there, holding out his sword in preparation for the flurry of vicious blows to follow. He wasn't sure if he could do this anymore, the first few times were _harrowing enough_.

A crazy idea planted itself in his thoughts, and it refused to go away until he acknowledged it. His self-preservation fought against it, refusing to even think of doing something so monumentally risky. But as he stared into those pitiless grey eyes steadily approaching, something in him gave, and he thought of a lost home.

And with that, he waited, not even budging as Tarrin started to twist around, bringing both swords in a heavy sweep at shoulder level, the twin black edges rocketed closer to Tai, and it would be so easy to dodge and deflect the blow with his blade, but he didn't budge. At all.

The swords continued to slice towards him, seemingly undeterred by the fact that he hadn't responded at all to them getting closer.

With one final thought of what his older brother used to mean, he lowered his blade, the tip digging into the floor a little.

He closed his eyes in preparation, holding in a deep breath as he waited for that moment of blackness.

It never came.

A vice-like grip wrapped around his neck, and he was lifted a few inches above the floor before being thrown down, his back thudding painfully into the smooth metal as Tarrin's face closed in, filled with fury. "What are you doing?" he growled, coinciding with the grip around Tai's neck tightening a little.

"You stopped-" his speech cut off as a yelp was squeezed out of him, making his eyes water as well. But none of that mattered.

"So. What." His brother hissed, face shaking slightly as Tai spotted a wetness growing in his eyes. He spotted the two black swords, laying abandoned on the floor nearby, just out of Tarrin's reach.

"Thank you-" Tai's words were cut off again as he found himself gasping for air, struggling a little against Tarrin's grip around his neck. He felt his vision dim, but even so, he could still think clearly enough to speak again, Tarrin's hold relaxed a little as the older _boy's_ shoulders began to shake.

Tai heard a sound come from his older brother that he had never heard before. A sob. "Why _thank me_?" he choked out, hands shaking in their places around his little brother's neck as tears began to roll down his cheeks. "I _have to do this._"

He screwed his eyes shut, feeling betrayed at the once-incomprehensible feelings now flowing through him. Flashes of an pagoda, rain lashing at it as he stared at it came to him, memories from a time so long ago he could only just picture it. Noatok was by his side, Li as well, the three of them silently watching as a hooded figure emerged from the building, walking towards them at a slow pace.

He brought himself back to the present, his eyes widening as he stared down at his little brother, who he saw was looking up at him, with calm and wistful eyes. "I couldn't save you from _him._" Tarrin murmured, relaxing his grip on Tai's neck, and stepping off of his chest.

The boy felt almost afraid to ask, but he couldn't resist the urge not to. His breathing slowed back into a normal rhythm, and his chest rose up and down as he stared up at the dark depths above, silently happy that his brother seemed to have gotten himself back again. He hoped it would last. "Save me from who?" his voice was small as he continued his stare of the ceiling, seeing the back of Tarrin's shoulders sag in the corner of his eye.

"From Telei." Tai chose not to question him, knowing that Tarrin didn't have a liar's habit. His brother continued on, his voice carrying a trace of rare emotion in it. "Do you remember, when the house burnt down. What did you do?"

"Looked for you, and then for dad." he said quickly and quietly, not eager to talk about the terrible memory, even with someone close to him. "I sure found him." he muttered darkly, flashes of standing in that dark and claustrophobic room coming back to him, along with the sensation of that _thing _looking at him.

He saw Tarrin's chin bob up and down for a few moments. "I tried to find him as well, but..." Tai stiffened as Tarrin reached his hands up to the hem of his hood, his fingers getting purchase as he slowly pulled the fabric back, letting it slowly fall down the back of his neck, revealing a neatly cut head of light-brown hair, which did little to hide the scattered crimson scars dotting his head. They slowly clumped together at the hairline near his temple, culminating in a long and thick knotted mass of scarring that trailed down to his jawline, splitting his cheek in half.

Tai's eyes widened, in both horror and sympathy, as his older brother smirked a little, tapping the gnarled burn with a finger. "This stopped me. Noatok found me under a pile of rubble, he got me out of there, away from the _fire._" His skin crawled at the horror in Tarrin's voice when he said that word. He showed no sign of dwelling on it, looking down at him now. "We tried, but we couldn't find you."

"Ta- Tarrin..." he trailed off, too dumbstruck as memories filled with fire and ash flashed through him.

"We spent the next three years looking for, during that time, he wore that mask more and more. He changed. I changed too." Tarrin was staring at the floor, a wistful look in his eye as he rubbed at his scar absent-mindedly. "Your firebending may have started that fire, Tai, but by no means was it your fault."

He nodded dumbly as he stared down at the floor as well. "I- when I couldn't find you or dad, I... I ran into _him_." It was weird, he still felt like he owed the old man, and still felt like he had to avenge him somehow, to pay him back. "He found me on the road, cold and _starving_. I couldn't believe my luck when he offered to give me a home, anything was preferable to being alone and lost."

A long-forgotten sensation of emptiness resurfaced in his stomach for a instant, before falling away again as he blinked and shook his head. "I changed as well, you know. Everything else fell apart for me, and only one thing survived: I had to find _Noatok_, I had to save _you_. He offered to help with my airbending, requesting nothing the entire time. He's still a mystery to me." He fell silent, doing his best to work through the new thoughts and ideas going through him, and also surprised a little at the loss of purpose he felt.

Finally, after a few unbearably long seconds, he glanced at his older brother, looking sidelong at the scar on his cheek. "What do we do now?"

To his surprise, Tarrin stood up, a small and unsure smile tugging at his lips as he looked down at him. "I have to finish the job."

He froze as his blood ran cold, and his eyes were glued to the black sabres lying on the floor near Tarrin's feet, numbly going through any dodges or techniques he could use to get a little distance- "I have to leave now. You can't follow." He stiffened, staring at him in bewilderment, trying to work out his words.

His brain unstuck, and he slowly stood up, keepng both eyes on Tarrin the entire time. "Why not?" he asked quietly, wary of the sabres lying on the floor nearby, as if they would be snatched up and used against him.

"Noatok chose me to continue his dream, and to safeguard his followers."

"But you heard Korra's words, he's a bloodbender-" he started, when a hard edge surfaced in Tarrin's eyes for a moment, before quickly disappearing.

"I don't care what he can do. He's family, just like you are."

A bitter feeling surfaced in the boy, and he scowled as he stared at the floor, his hands shaking slightly. "Back on that rooftop, you claimed the exact opposite."

Tarrin's eyes were downcast as he looked at his boots. "Yes... I'm sorry."

"You still haven't explained why I can't go with you."

He looked up, nodding slowly. "The people I'm after, I can't let them harm you. It's better if I go alone."

"But..." He was confused. Very confused, this was the first time Tarrin had actually been close without one of his swords following.

His brother moved forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, silencing him. "Promise you won't come after me. Stay on that island, _move on_."

"But... We're _brothers._ Mom and dad... can't we stick together?" his voice shook, and tears stung his vision, but he refused to let them drop.

"Not yet. Too many people are after me and Noatok. But maybe... in a few months or so. This isn't goodbye." Tarrin's grip tightened on his shoulder, and he was drawn in close, seeing nothing but the leather padding on his brother's chest before he stepped back, bending down to pick up his sabres.

Before he could speak up, or even move, his older brother walked out of the room, his footsteps echoing off the walls as they gradually faded away, soon into nothing. The boy was dumbstruck, confusion overwhelming him completely.

* * *

The metal in front of Bolin's nose squealed as it bent and gave, prompting a yelp from him as he backed away from the wall of the gondola, nearly tripping over the extended swivel arm behind him. He managed to hop over it, arms flailing as he tipped backwards. A hand grabbed his arm and pulled him down onto the bench, and he was greeted with Sensha's nervous smile.

He managed to smile back, only just barely overcoming the butterflies and knots gathering in his stomach. He nodded his thanks, taking a deep breath as the gondola rocked again, making the begoggled madman at the wheel shake a gloved fist in fury. "They seriously think their machines can take down one of _my creations! Hah!"_

He watched commander Makei whirl around from the observation window nearby, hanging onto a handhold on the windowframe as he glared at the pilot. "Focus, _Keigo_."

The madman waved a hand at him airily, making Bolin's stomach lurch as he expertly banked the airship around the oncoming building, cackling a little as he spotted the equalist-made designs struggle to pull of the same maneuver. His cackling stilled a little as he saw Nisha glaring at him as well, he sighed and nodded, calming down as he levelled the airship with one smooth motion.

She rolled her eyes as she turned, moving towards a pair of binoculars haphazardly hung on the hook nearby. She moved towards the windows just in front of Keigo and the driving mount, bringing them up to her eyes, trying to spot a gaudy and low lying building out on the bay, which was tough to do in the forest of tall structures they weaved and floated through. "Sir, looks like we've still got some air to cover before getting near the arena."

"Understood. Keigo! Can you make it go faster?" Makei nearly rolled his eyes as their completely-sane pilot twisted around, a look of mad glee on his gaunt features.

He nodded eagerly. "Mak, I can make this thing _soar_." Keigo stuck out his tongue as he took his hands off of the wheel, lacing his fingers together in front of him. The almighty crack managed to ring throughout the cabin, even though the elbow-length gloves he wore were made of thick leather.

"Hey! Crazy-Inventor Guy! They're gaining." He glanced back, peering through the dirt encrusted lenses at the boy standing by the back windows, gesturing wildly while a red rat seemed to have wrapped itself around his neck. Keigo adjusted his googles as he turned back to the front, seeing the looming spire of one of the shorter towers rushing to meet the gondola's bow. Expertly he spun the wheel, making the entire ship lurch again as he guided it up and over, wincing a little as a scraping noise reverberated through out the cabin, and the floor shook violently.

He noticed the Sato girl nervously looking about herself, a pair of too-big goggles resting on the top of her head as she k. "I require some assistance, my dear!" He called out, startling the girl for a moment before she recovered, making her way over as she focused on avoiding the side of the Future Industry office tower in front of them. The girl quickly latched onto a rail nearby, holding on for dear life as the corner of the building scraped along side of the ship's nose. He cursed softly at the thought of such a mar on his creation's skin, a little ashamed that his reflexes were too slow to catch it.

"Y-Yes?" she shouted above the general din and keening wind, still clinging onto that safety rail as he glanced at her, taking a hand away from the wheel and pointing at the complicated control array the wheel stuck out from.

"Keep an eye on the pressure dial, and shout when something explodes, ms Sato!" He nodded to himself, sure that his instructions were in-depth enough.

She nodded and kept her mouth closed, focusing on the array of dials and gauges in front of her. "Okay. I'll keep the helium levels balanced, and..." he hid a little smile when she leant forward and tapped a rust encrusted screen, a group of pale green and sickly yellow propeller icons behind the thick glass.

Her mouth worked as she made a few quick calculations in her head, recalling a happier time when dad taught her the basics of airship function. She pursed her lips, and her fingers flew as she turned a few dials and pulled a couple of levers. In response the propeller icons all changed to a uniform green, and the airship levelled out, and felt like it wouldn't drop out of the sky the first chance it got anymore. "Balanced the transfers, lucky we caught it or the ground would have been our next stop."

"Your assistance has been noted, miss." Keigo managed a little curtsy while keeping of the wheel, bringing a rare smile to Asami as she stayed by the eccentric man's side, keeping a close watch on the gauges and dials.

"They're still following!" Bolin shouted out, the panic barely suppressed in his voice, he glanced down at Pabu who was trying tunnel through his collar and into his shirt, he yelped as something impacted into the back of the gondola, making the floor rock and squeal, sending Sensha crashing into his chest and the both of them tumbling to the floor. Nisha shook her head in annoyance as she marched over, her steps a little mechanic as manipulated her boots to stay rooted to the floor when they touched down, before detaching as she lifted her feet up.

She helped the two of them up, bringing them over to a wall nearby and pointing at the fixed handholds on it's surface. They both nodded and held on tight, in time for another impact to rock the gondola. "Sir, we need to down those airships."

Makei limped back inside, one hand clamped onto his stomach as he shook his head. "We don't have anything big enough for that. We'll have to outrun them."

"Y-yes, sir." she hesitated for a moment before walking towards a nearby wall, straightening the dented portions and plugging up the holes using a bit of metalbending.

A muffled thud rang through the cabin, and he heard the sound of metal piercing metal, and saw a iron spike punch through the rear wall of the cabin, it's tip gnarled and twisted from the high velocity impact, a design feature left in to secure it to the ship being being targeted. Makei knew Keigo would love to get his hands on how they designed them. When this was all over, he'll donate any airships still intact to his workshop for study. He grunted a little as the massive bruise on his stomach flared in pain, reminding him of the close call with one of the spikes when he was on one of the turrets outside.

A idea came to him. Their weapons weren't meant to take down other airships, being designed for herding criminals and rapid deployment for the force's heavier equipment. His mind worked as he moved towards the back of the gondola, focusing on the jostling harpoon lodged in the wall. He moved past Bolin and Sensha, the former's mouth gaping as he neared the spike, suddenly he veered away from it, going for a door nestled in the corner of the gondola wall. He flicked his hand, and the metal door instantly slid into the wall, groaning a little as the alarm for the lock system began to blare in response.

Barely audible above the winds and noise roaring into the cabin, was Sensha's voice, filled with undisguised alarm. "Commander, what are you doing?"

Without looking back at her, his answer was short and simple. "Taking out the competition." With that he stepped through, putting a lot of effort into keeping upright as he closed his eyes for a moment, keeping a firm hold on the doorframe behind him as he focused on the pulse and flow of the earth particles inside his armor, training his efforts on his boots in particular. The wind dulled in his ears, and everything dropped away to a far-off howl as he found the right pattern of particles to change and mold to his liking.

After a few seconds, the slightly strange sensation of the metal in his boots shifting and liquifying stopped. Each step was heavy as his boots lifted themselves from the walkway, the metal retracting back to its normal shape and texture while not in contact with the metal of the walkway. This was a technique of his own devising, one that made infiltration, and getting to the top floor of a building much simpler to accomplish. Toph herself was amazed when he showed her the technique, which pushed Lin to impressive lengths of daring to one-up him.

She got her wish when she pioneered swinging from building to building like some pulp-fic vigilante.

He shook the distracting and old thoughts away, powering through the wind as he kept close to the gondola wall, his eyes fixed on the smooth metal shaft trapped in the hole of its own making. He spied the thick black cable threaded through the back end of the projectile, and nearly lost his balance when it tugged sharply, and one of the crimson airships pursuing them got a lot closer than it should have. Ignoring the smoking and smashed up turret he saw in the corner of his eye, he held his arm out straight, taking a deep breath and focusing on the particles hidden in his wrist plate. He found them within a second, and he urged them to move over his hand, resulting in a wide and thick blade growing out of it, it's tip reaching to the end of his index finger.

Appreciating his handiwork for a moment, he drew his arm back in preparation to slash through the thick cable. He caught far-off movement in the corner of his eye, and he swore softly as a black blur whistled through the air towards his position, he narrowed his eyes and brought his arm down, slicing through the cable with one heavy strike before placing a palm on a smooth part of the wall, staring straight at the projectile spearing directly towards him. He waited a second, taking another breath before throwing out his other hand, fingers clenched as the rapidly approaching harpoon began to buck and shake violently in it's mid air passage.

His long, and at times alcohol-soaked, life flashed before is eyes for a few long seconds, before he felt something shift in in the metal. With a barely suppressed grin, a grunt was taken out of him as he took control of the harpoon, the rope trailing behind it shooting past before running out of momentum. The airship that fired it was still rapidly approaching, it's propellers being taken to their limits in a drive to catch up to them.

He focused as the harpoon dropped out of the sky, being overshadowed by the equalist airship as it hung there, suspended on the end of the rope and now being pulled by the airship. He swept his arm to the side just as the equalist airship's propellers started an even faster spin, and the harpoon responded by launching itself towards the flank of a building nearby, it sank deep into the concrete, and stayed there as he held onto the wall while directing his control to the metallic cable connecting it to the speeding ship.

The effect, was both spectacular and startlingly effective, yet simple at the same time.

For all their technological superiority, highly trained footsoldiers, and incredibly fast manufacturing capability. The Equalists could never overcome one obstacle.  
Physics.

Like the dying cry of a shark-whale, the metal in the pursuing airship's superstructure wailed and squealed, being rent and broken quickly by the massive centrifugal force being piled on as the metallic cable went taut, and with an almighty snap the airship nearly rolled over as it was wrenched back and to the side, bodies dropped from it's gondola, being covered by blooming parachutes as the now crewless ship slammed into the nearby building with massive force, the balloon folding and caving as it lost interior pressure.

Finally, the airship was allowed to pass on, as the gas escaping out of the rent and torn balloon above, met the sparking and broken machinery in the gondola affixed below. The explosion was spectacular, and the air around Makei rippled slightly from the pressure wave. Without any further delay he headed back inside, hearing mad cackling coming from within.

"Can it Keigo. Focus on flying this thing." He didn't notice the weary tone in his voice as he moved through the center of the cabin, arching a eyebrow at the awestruck expression on Bolin, and strangely enough the ferret thing as well, before he shrugged and sat on a swivel bench near the front. Nisha moved to his side, shaking a metal canister with what sounded like liquid in it.

Gratefully he nodded, taking the offered canister and popping off the lid, tipping the water within into his mouth. It tasted like metal, and for a second it looked like there _was_ metal in the water, but he didn't care, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as he placed the canister next to him. "Thanks, lieutenant. Heard anything from the corporal and the ground team?"

She shook her head. "Nothing at all sir, either they're kicking ass, or-" she trailed off, obviously thinking the worst as he tapped her arm, bringing her back to reality.

"Hei will be fine, Lieutenant. Tough kid, remember?" He pretended he didn't notice the little smile on her, instead keeping a neutral face on as he thought of how he could add yet another piece of blackmail to use on her, in case he needed her to get him some coffee or something.

"Mak, we're coming up on the ol' arena any sec now. Getting ready is preferred." He nodded to show he had heard, waiting until Keigo had turned back to driving the airship before standing up, walking towards Boto and Sensha as the room banked slightly, signalling that they had just gone around another building, probably the last before they would hit the waterfront.

"It's fine if you two want to stay here." He started off with, mindful of how exhausted they both looked. Immediately though, they both shook their heads, standing up straight and giving him a curt nod.

"My brother's down there, I'm not sitting this out-" he blinked twice before laughing nervously. "-Commander, sir." he quickly added, getting a amused shake of the head from Makei. The commander tilted his head slightly as the boy's collar erupted in movement, and Pabu popped out, adding his own chitters in agreement.

"Me neither, I've still got some fight left, sir." Sensha added, the fire in her eyes backing up that statement.

Makei noticed the boy give her a aside glance for a brief second, before swallowing and nodding as well.

"You won't be leaving me up here as well." He turned to see the young heiress standing there, a electro glove fitted over her hand and a belt of liberated stun grenades looped over her shoulder.

With a sigh he nodded, secretly welcoming the help the three of them would bring. "Guess that settles it then. I'm fairly sure you all know to be careful when we get down there." he tossed a glance at Keigo. "How long?"

"Oh, ten seconds or so." with a abrupt bark of laughter he wrenched a nearby lever as far back as it would go, making the gondola shudder as the entire airship suddenly realized it was decelerating.

"And you say I don't treat your airships well enough..." Makei muttered, reaching for a handhold as shuddering increased, then stopped as the entire airship levelled out. He looked at Nisha and nodded, she walked towards the wall, pulling down on a mounted lever. The floor in the center of the gondola split in two, as the doors moved away from one another, revealing a intersection below, on which a roughly circular array of car wrecks were scattered about, completely blocking up the roads feeding into it.

He heard Keigo mutter something under his breath, and Makei looked up to see a pair of airships peeling away from their stations above the arena, slowly turning towards their highly visible transport. "We gotta move." without warning he grabbed both Sensha and Bolin, the boy yelping in fear as he dropped through the opening in the floor feet-first, the wind rushing by his ears as they fell towards the intersection below. He felt the boys panicked grip shift on him as he lifted his arm, aiming a wrist launcher at the airship above. He didn't skip a beat as he willed the wire to launch, guiding the sharp tipped length up and up, the reel on his back working in over time to keep the wire moving.

The sound of a thud reached his ears, and immediately he stopped the reel from playing out any more wire, a second and another scream later, their descent was halted, and Makei's arm felt a familiar ache as he confirmed that they had stopped falling. Slowly, he let the reel on his back let out more wire, and he lowered them slowly, before finally he ripped the wire from the bottom of the airship, letting it return to his armor as his feet touched the ground.

A few seconds passed before Bolin opened his eyes, and his skin was pale as he stumbled away from Makei and Sensha, resting his hands on his knees as he took in great gulps of air. He pointed a accusing finger at the commander, not caring that he was his elder. "Could have used some WARNING." he ran out of breath and continued the pattern of keeping his mouth wide open and sucking in great breaths, ignoring the amused look coming from Makei and the sympathy-filled one from Sensha.

He heard boots thudding down, and he turned to see Asami move away from Nisha's grip, similarly grey-faced. She clamped a hand over her mouth as she desperately looked around herself, nodding quickly as Nisha pointed at a bin sitting on the footpath nearby. She darted towards it, her hair forming a curtain around her features as she bent over it, the sounds of muffled coughs and hurls coming from her.

Nisha walked forward and patted the heiresse's back to help her get it out of her system. "Happens to first-timers. It won't last long." Asami took a long shuddering breath as she nodded slowly, keeping a firm hold on the lip of the bin for a few seconds before she was sure it was all gone. She turned and gave the lieutenant a weak smile before straightening, and slowly moving towards Bolin, watching him carefully.

Before she could ask him, he held his thumb up, holding it in place as he nodded. "Completely okay. No problem here whatsoever. None at all. I'm _fine_." A loud noise from his stomach, coinciding with a rippling wave of pain sounded, the girl tilted her head as he felt himself swaying a little.

"Stay still, Bolin." she said quietly, clinging onto his forearm to keep herself from losing balance. He didn't even redden or blush as he usually did when she or Korra did something like that, settling for a little nod as Sensha came over.

"You guys okay?" He noticed the wince she was barely holding back, and even though his stomach was still doing flips, he managed a small smile and a nod. Pabu took this moment to pop out of his collar, swaying back and forth before collapsing, falling over his shoulder and staying there as the little ferret lost consciousness.

"How come you're not affected?"

She grinned inanely as she held out a arm for him to hold onto. "I have a acrobats body. I can take it."

He pouted as she smiled in amusement, before suddenly the smile was wiped off of her, and she pointed past his shoulder. He turned to see a hooded figure emerging from the top of a ladder near the pro-bending pier, threading his way towards them, the handles of two black sabres just close enough to make out from this distance.

Makei noticed the approaching figure as well, and gestured for all of them to stay still as he ran across the main road, disappearing into a alley diving into the throng of buildings near their position. Not a second later, another figure came out of the waterfront, going for the same alleyway. He noticed the distinctive pale blue armor, and the brown skin of the young man wearing it. "What the?" he muttered.

"Sir!" He turned around, seeing a line of mecha tanks rumbling towards them, with a few noticeably listing before being brought back to a straight path. Their canopy lights weren't on, meaning that he couldn't see who was behind the wheel of the advancing machines. At any second now he expected chi blockers to swarm towards them, and accordingly he slowly took a few steps forward, playing out his wires as the tanks rumbled closer and closer, Nisha stood by his side, a determined look on her as her wrist plates molded into thick claws, made for ripping apart metal and anything else it touched.

He grimaced as he watched the three teens ready themselves as well, before looking back at the advancing line to see that the tanks had stopped, and their canopies popped open all at once.

"Commander! Are we late!" Hei climbed out of the tank in the center of the line, grinning cheesily as he saluted. After a few seconds his grin was replaced by a frown. "You haven't seen lieutenant Boto, have you?"

* * *

His world darkened considerably, as the open road on either side, and the waterfront behind him, were replaced by high walls and fire escapes, by dumpsters and rubbish strewn everywhere, and by the gradually shrinking hooded figure slowly getting farther away from him. He pumped his arms as hard as he could, willing himself to go faster as he hopped over a puddle of water, a soggy rally pamphlet floating on it's surface, already abandoned and forgotten.

He couldn't let Amon get away, this was his once chance to find out where Tarrlok was! One chance to finally set things _right_. He skidded around a corner, gripping the wall for a second before letting go and continuing into another alley, trying to hold onto his forward momentum as he spotted the dark hood bobbing up and down, and a pair of black sabres shaking against each other in their rests on his back.

A grunt was taken out of him as something slammed into the side of his shin, he didn't let his eyes wander down, keeping them glued forwards as he continued running, ignoring the growing ache on his leg.

Another turn was coming up, and as he neared it, he flung his hand out towards the wall nearby, meaning to grip onto it like before to help him turn quicker. But as his fingers closed on the bricks, he realised his mistake as dust and mortar crumbled and he flailed for a moment, before momentum sent his shoulder slamming into the opposite wall with a almighty crunch. He hissed, and clamped an hand on it as he continued forwards, refusing to lose sight of the escaping terrorist leader, who had slowed down a little as he neared a intersection ahead.

Boto frowned as he watched Amon skid to a halt, unsheathing the sabres on his back and flinging himself out of view, leaving Boto with confusing thoughts as he neared the intersection, apprehension knotting itself in his stomach as he saw large blasts of fire and streams of brown water being flung around.

His innate caution told him to slow down, and the pain in his shoulder told him to heal first. He stopped and leaned against the dumpster nearby, ignoring the sounds of fire and water being thrown about ahead as he moved a hand towards the hip flask on his belt. He popped the cap off, letting it fall to the ground as his fingers danced in slow and graceful motions, drawing out the stream of water within. The young man rolled his wrist, concentrating as hard as he could to compensate for the smaller movement he was forced to use, the stream coiled around itself, expanding into a rough sphere of softly glowing water.

He didn't wait around, and clamped onto his shoulder as he cast a cautious eye at the battle taking place not too far ahead. He was impatient as the minutes ticked by, but eventually was rewarded with a dull ache presenting itself in his shoulder, rather than the burning sensation from before. Boto released a impromptu sigh as he rolled his shoulder experimentally, before moving his hand and flicking it towards his open flask, the globe of water responded, immediately breaking back into a thin ribbon and streaming back into the flask, filling it up to the brim again.

Boto bent down and picked the cap up, screwing it over the flasks mouth before standing up straight, taking a deep breath as he slowly edged his way down the alley, cautiously following the gouts of fire and razor-thin water whips being thrown around.

He would have waited a little longer before making his presence known, if the hooded figure wasn't trapped by a advancing wall of fire on one side, and a cluster of ice shards on the other. Boto swore and sprinted forwards, spying a drainage lid nearby he concentrated as he pointed a hand at it, the lid rumbled and shook before being lifted high into the air by a tower of foaming water, he skidded to a halt and threw both arms forwards, directing the thick stream to snake forwards, occupying the space between Amon and the wall of fire.

Boto gritted his teeth as he kept a firm control on the torrent, and slowly lifted one arm up and over his head, the torrent responded by growing up and over the equalist's head, coming down on the other side to form a wall against the ice shards slicing towards him. The ice shards shattered as they met the roaring water, and on the other side, the flames licked and hissed as they crashed into the other side.

The hooded figure stared straight at him, his grey eyes filled with questions as Boto stared back, even more questions forming. That wasn't Amon. He was brought back to his current task with a noticeable drop in his breathing, which grew ragged and shallow as his vision dimmed and his head pounded terribly. He couldn't keep this up for much longer, but he had to keep Amon alive for questioning. He responded with a hiss and poured more energy and focus into controlling the water shield, and fought hard to keep it from collapsing as it weathered the vicious assault now being committed from both sides.

Boto responded by taking a few steps forward, feeling the pounding subside a little as he got physically close to the source of water he was controlling.

Eventually, and abruptly, the impacts on either side of the thick shield stopped, and for a few seconds Boto didn't notice until he realized that the intersection had gone quiet, save for the spinning and frothing of his water.

Slowly he released control over the thick stream, and guided the flow back into the drainage hole near his feet. With one last gurgle it disappeared back into the sewers, and Boto was astounded to see the hooded figure moving towards him, _without_ sabres being readied. He stood still as the young man's grey eyes scanned him, the only sure thing Boto could actually pick out from under the dark recesses of the hood. "You. You're Boto."

Not quite knowing how to respond to that, he settled for a slow nod. The hooded young man surprised him by nodding in turn, a strange light in his eyes as he pushed his palms together and bowed. "Thank you for your assistance... and for looking after my little brother."

His eyes were wide, and his mind was struggling to work as he realized who it was. "Tarrin."

The young man gave him a short and simple nod, before turning and taking a step forward, obviously not intent on sticking around. Boto wasn't sure what to do when he stopped, further confusing him by getting a small slip of paper out his pocket and flicking it towards the waterbender. "Here, Amon told me to give you this."

As he snatched the little slip out of the air, and before he could ask about Amon, Tarrin sprinted off, leaving him confused and dumbstruck. Numbly, his mind realised there was writing on the paper, and once it recognized the two words sitting next to each other, it went into overdrive, putting a growl on Boto's features.

Kurso. Rorik.

* * *

潮


	32. The Hunt, and The Answers

潮

* * *

Her eyes were wide as she registered what happened, hearing the shouts and sounds of blades meeting coming from within the almost pitch black room. She stood there for a second, unsure of what to do now, or even think about when she heard the sound of a door opening nearby, she turned around, and saw _him_ step out of the doorway ahead, calmly running towards the two of them with a emotionless gaze. She acted quickly, sweeping a carpet of fire towards the implacable terrorist to slow him down a little as Mako ran down the corridor nearby.

There wasn't enough time to check that she had stopped him, quickly she followed Mako down the hall, stopping and twisting her leg around and up, calling a massive wall of fire that blocked access to their hallway from the junction. She ran, keeping pace with the boy as a closed door on each side, she thought about heading through one of the doors and taking cover in the room within, but it was too close to the junction, and with a slight spike of dread she knew that he wouldn't be stopped for long.

But if they took too long in picking a room to hide in, he would run them down, physically stronger than the two of them. They needed to keep surprise on their side, that would be the only way to defeat him. Mako skidded around a corner ahead and she followed suit, turning into another hallway, this time dotted with shutters and closed doors on both sides. They stopped for a moment to catch their breath.

He looked at her. "How can we stop him?" he asked between breaths, stripping off the heavy gloves and throwing them to the floor.

"We have to get the jump on him." she studied the closed doors and shutters on each wall ahead, thoughts going over potential plans, something she was new to. "We hide in one of these rooms as best we can, and then he comes in trying to find us, then we..." she slammed a closed fist into her palm to illustrate the point.

A small smile broke through on his face. "Better than what I had."

"What was it?" she asked, keeping herself distracted by the prospect of losing by giving voice to her curiosity.

"Toast him." he said simply, straightening to look at the closest double doors. She was about to chuckle when clear and crisp footsteps drew closer, as deliberately slow as possible to psyche out the two teens. It worked, sending a shiver of dread up both of their spines. At the same time they pushed the doors open nearby, running into a massive and dimly lit storage room. She found herself looking at the catwalk that lined the four sides of the room, suspended a few metres above the tops of the gargantuan sized shelves, which held all manner of components and parts, most likely destined for repairing and maintaining the complex machinery that operated in the bowels of the arena. He threw another unconvincingly assured smile at her before pointing to a dark corner on the far side of the room, just behind a shelf stacked high with gears, cogs, was a stack of wooden flatboards, she nodded uneasily, and he ran forward, diving through between two shelves and away from sight, taking cover behind the stack of wood.

Her eyes widened when she heard the steps again, this time much closer than before. Somewhere in the back of her mind, something guessed she had about ten seconds or so to find a place to _hide_. Frantically she ran into the center of the room, silently wishing that he wouldn't come through that door. A green cloth draped over a table caught her eye, and without any more thinking crawled under it, drawing her knees up close and keeping her back pressed against a heavy crate sitting next to her hiding place. She slowed her breathing, and kept her eyes glued to the small sliver of floor she could see under the hem of the cloth, hoping to any spirit listening she wouldn't see a pair of black boots standing there. A few tension-filled seconds passed, and a thought dared go across her mind; maybe he walked straight past their room?

The double doors crashed open, obliterating the thought with a wave of dread and fear. She stared down at her hands, which were shaking a little as she fearfully peeked underneath the hem of the cloth, seeing light from the outside hallway highlighting the patch of floor she could see. She bit down on the frantic breathing slowly welling up, and suppressed a squeak as two pairs of black boots clacked loudly across the floor, advancing slowly into her field of vision. She followed the path of his boots as they kept moving forwards, and her heart skipped a beat as they stopped just past her hiding place

A bead of sweat ran down her cheek, as terrible thoughts of him turning to his right dominated her thinking. The skin on her hands grew slick against the interior of the leather gloves as she realized he may have spotted Mako's hiding place. A few seconds passed, and she could nothing but stare at the dark boots standing still a few metres away, she fought desperately to still her frantic breathing.

Relief flowed through her as the boots started walking again, moving a little deeper into the area between the shelves, the almost exact center of the large room. She stared at the floor for a few moments, and couldn't help the sigh of relief that came out of her. Her eyes widened as the clacking stopped, and inexorable dread ran through her entire body.

A grip of iron clamped down on the girl, and her eyes boggled as she was lifted into the air, nearly bumping her head on the underside of the table. She yelped as some invisible force dragged her out from under the green cloth, hanging her in the air a few metres above the white masked man's head, which was tilted as he studied her shaking form. Her upper body was wrenched backwards painfully, and she couldn't do anything but stare up at the ceiling, her eyes wide as pain filled her entire being. The urge to scream overwhelmed her, but all she could do was groan painfully as her blood shifted in unnatural ways, and her bones squealed in protest as they were twisted in ways they physically couldn't do normally.

The emotionless white mask looked away from the pitiful sight as he kept his arm raised and fingers clenched, deep in concentration as he manipulated the liquid inside the avatar's body. A stark contrast to her thoughts, which all panicked as they tried to formulate a plan, or try to hope for some miracle to occur that could save her from his touch.

Almost as if in answer, Mako stepped out from behind the wooden stack behind the terrorist, a snarl on his features as he threw sweeps and missiles of flame at Amon's back. "LET HER GO!" he shouted, taking a step forward as Amon whipped his head around to look at the minor annoyance, leaning back to avoid the poorly aimed blasts. She almost heard a contempt-filled huff as the masked man raised his other arm up, pointing it straight at the fiery boy and clenching his fingers in an abrupt movement.

The effect on him was immediate, as the flames on his fists died away, and the boy's eyes widened a little as Amon's bending took control of his movement. He gritted his teeth and hissed as his feet left the floor, and he floated towards Amon's grasp, writhing in pain. The terrorist fixed him with a look of annoyance and contempt as he lifted Mako higher into the air, bringing him to the same level as Korra.

He fought against his control with everything he had, only managing to get enough movement back to fix Korra with a reassuring gaze, one that told her he would think of something to get them out of this. A gasp was squeezed out of him, and mastery of his body was handed to Amon, who slowly swung his attention between the two of them, most likely trying to decide who to debend first.

The white mask settled on Korra, who gritted her teeth as she hit the floor hard, still unable to move of her own volition. Through her spinning view of the room, she saw Mako on his side, a pain filled expression on him as his blood twisted and raged inside of him, leaving the boy immobile and at the mask's mercy. Her eyes widened as the grip on her renewed, and she shuddered as she felt her upper body being righted by invisible hands, being put into a kneeling position next under the mask's supervision.

Her neck itched terribly as her head was tipped back, and her view found the ceiling again. She heard a yell of defiance come from Mako, but nothing came of it as the bloodbender's shadow loomed over her, instilling her with a paralysing wave of dread that would have rooted her to the spot even if she could move. She heard his steps as he disappeared from her sight, and her blood chilled as the movement stopped, and she uttered a cry as his hand roughly clamped down on the base of her neck, suppressing any more movement from her as the shakes continued. A spark of familiar rebellion grew inside her, and she was able to fight off his control long enough to look back at him with a defiant gaze. But her words were anything but. "No!" she pleaded, as his hand made strange gestures while slowly drawing closer to her forehead.

The light of her world darkened as his thumb settled, and she heard her name being called out by a pain-stricken voice. She gasped as a strange black mass grew inside of her, springing forth from where the terrorist had his grip on her. It spread out through her, stopping her flowing energy at it's source, quenching it's fire, and cracking the solid core of her being like an egg. A single, low and barely audible breath escaped while her vision dimmed, and almost instantly, she felt _hollow_.

A soft whistle of air could be heard, as something sliced through it towards the back of the terrorist's head. He tilted his head up a little, and she shuddered again as the oily mass slowed inside her. The control on her lessened just a little as she heard a yell of pain, and the sound of bones being contorted as something metallic clattered to the floor. She still had enough control to swing her gaze to the side, seeing Tai writhing and flailing as he fought futilely against his own blood.

The boy threw a desperate look down at her limp form, and his struggling grew in it's ferocity while Amon brought the boy closer to him, tilting his head slightly as he saw the absolutely rage-filled expression on his features. He made a sound of disappointment and spun the boy around slowly, clenching his fingers a little, rousing pained grunts from him. He looked down at the absolutely pitiful girl on the floor who he had just broken. He nudged her with the side of his foot. "I told you I would destroy you." his calm taunt made the boy continue his struggles anew, turning the terrorist's attention to him. "You don't give up do you?"

Before Tai could give him an answer something in him broke, and a cough was squeezed out from him, and his eyes widened on reflex as blood filled in his mouth. A strangled gasp escaped his closed lips as Amon continued to play with the boy, slowly increasing the pressure on the areas near his ribs as lungs. The boy began to gasp for air as his mouth flew open, letting the blood seep out of the side of his mouth a little as his need for air overrode everything.

The three teens continued to writhe as Amon continued to exhort his absolute control over them, momentarily lost in the intoxicating feel of his father's curse.

* * *

She gripped the knob, swinging the door open and ushering in the three kids, she took one look at the hallway as Tenzin walked past her after them, before heading through herself and closing the door, as she took a step on the staircase going down, her gaze automatically settled on the metal frame, expecting it to bend at her command and seal the door shut, stopping any pursuers from coming in. It didn't budge, and she suppressed a mournful sigh as she made her way down the stairs, using the back of Tenzin's bobbing head as a reference in the abysmally lit room.

Their steps echoed off of the curved walls, acting as a buffer to any conversations that could be said. She heard the rinkling of chains somewhere below, and everyone halted, the children's breathing automatically getting louder. Hers did as well as she froze for a different reason, no longer looking at a curved wall, but at the emotionless white mask flecked with her blood, while the chains holding her above the slick cement floor kept her suspended and easy to manipulate. She shook herself a little, trying to put that thought down as much as possible. It worked, for the most part, and she kept her gaze fixated on Tenzin and his children, using them as her own little buffer to stop herself from going back to those blows and that room.

A timid voice made her snap back to reality. "Daddy, is mommy close?" Ikki quietly asked ahead, keeping a grip on the rail as she carefully took each step down, trailing behind Meelo and Jinora.

Tenzin stopped for a moment, bending down and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Yes Ikki, she's close." the child studied her father's face for a moment, before wrapping her tiny arms around his neck. He returned her affection, and held onto her hand as he stood up and walked her down the stairs towards her siblings, who waited by the door for them to catch up.

Lin followed them down, and just as the family was about to run through the open door she heard a muffled noise on the other side of the wall. "Stop!" she hissed, just loud enough for them to freeze and immediately back away from the doorway, waiting for the all clear from her. She pressed her back to the wall and slowed her breathing, hoping that at least she could still something as simple as being able to hear clearly through walls. Her hopes faded as she heard nothing, for a moment panic had a hold over her mind, but it was obliterated by a spark of hope when her eyes widened in mild surprise. She heard footsteps and treads moving clearly, as if they were in the room with them.

She frowned as each sound carried a echo, signifying that whatever room connected to their doorway was massive, or at least big enough to comfortably hold mecha tanks in it. "Sounds like they have mecha tanks, Tenzin. You'll have to-" he cut her off with a understanding nod, catching the self-accusing look she had in her eye.

"Kids." he looked down at each of them with a tight smile. "Be very careful alright? Don't take any risks." he cautioned, in the same way and tone he used when they were younger and prone to mishaps on the training equipment. Jinora inclined her head and Meelo gave his dad a thumbs up, while Ikki saluted him. His smile relaxed as he looked away from them. "Lin-"

"I'll be careful, Tenzin." she cut him off with a smirk, confident in her martial abilities and endurance. She put a finger to her lips as she sidled up against the side of the doorway, peering through into a dimly lit space that ran both directions. She recognized as the main sewage line that ran to the arena, supplying it with water and connections back to the city power plants. It was also one of the entrances the equalists smuggled their people and weapons through during the pro-bending tournament.

A hint of guilt welled up in her before she clamped down on it, focusing on the task at hand. She waited until everyone was behind her until she ran through the door, balancing on the balls of her feet to keep the noise down, she spotted a crate shoved up against the wall nearby, and crouched behind it as she watched a patrol of three blockers walk away from them and further into the huge tunnel. The kids kept quiet as ahead a mecha tank rumbled into view, only visible because of the points of light on it's torso and from the cockpit windows. The driver kept the chassis facing down the tunnel towards them, making it especially difficult to move up the tunnel any further without alerting it. If it was just Tenzin and herself, she could have done it, but with the kids along she can't risk it.

He drew up next to her. "Lin. I'll take care of the tank, once it's disabled, you take of the guards up ahead." he whispered, peering over the crate every so often when the lights had stopped shining on their side of the tunnel.

"This isn't just to prove I'm not useless is it?" she whispered back, a bit suspicious that he was giving her the responsibility of dealing with them instead of making her hang back and watch over the kids. She regretted her words instantly, he wasn't like that at all.

His hand fell on her shoulder, the thing he always did to calm her down. Or be condescending. Honestly, sometimes she found it hard to distinguish between which he was going for. She shook the distracting thought away as he gave her a trademarked Aang smirk. "You tell me." he said cryptically, infuriating her as he turned to the kids. "Stay down you three." they all nodded as he vaulted over the crates, sticking to the curved wall as he moved forwards, slowly making his way behind the mecha tank before it could shine the light on him.

Those blockers were a worry though. Back at the station, Keigo told her that they had some kind of light enhancing film on the lenses, allowing anyone who wore them to see in the darkness with much more clarity than normal. The only tradeoff being a green filter over their vision. She trusted in Tenzin's abilities though, and she knew he wouldn't be caught that easily, way too flitty.

The airbender froze and pressed himself into the wall, keeping his gaze fixed on the mecha tank a few metres away as it's chassis began to swivel towards him abruptly, Tenzin used a gust of wind to propel himself into the dark space above it's canopy, hanging there for a few seconds while balancing the cushion of wind that kept him up there without falling. As the driver guided it back to looking down the tunnel, he collapsed the cushion with a small puff, dropping down onto the slick cement just behind the machine, presented with the complicated pipes, vents and exhaust ports on it's back that kept it running smoothly. He crept forward a few steps, manifesting a ball of highly pressurized wind in his palm. While he had been teaching Tai, he had picked up a few things from the boy as well. Although Tenzin would never tell him outright, for fear of giving his student a bigger head than he already had.

Without missing a beat he focused on a small and important looking widget mounted just above the armored connection between the canopy and the dreads, driving the sphere into it, the highly condensed outer skin of the unassuming ball split apart, unleashing the hurricane force gales within onto the complex and fragile machinery, ripping through the flimsy platinum plates of the outer layer and digging a path through the wires, hydraulics and water pipes in its structure. The effect was devastating on the machine, the arms flailed around as smoke rose from within the tread lines, as gears and cogs grinded against each other in the wrong direction. Tenzin heard a pained cry come from the cockpit as the driver was thrown about inside, continuing for a bit before the unlucky man hit his head on a steam gauge, and was knocked out cold.

Alarmed yells carried down the tunnel towards the airbending master, and he whirled around to face another mecha tank speeding out of the darkness towards him, firing both claws to ensnare and trap him, with or without broken bones. He waited a few seconds before dodging, keeping a keen ear out for any other rumbles coming from further down. He gave a nod to Lin as he twisted around the heavy pincer, firing a blast of air at the new tank's shoulder, shearing off a few plates of platinum.

Lin kept close to the tunnel's side, keeping well away from Tenzin and the tank, even though all she wanted was to jump in and tear that thing into scrap metal. She suppressed a growl as she continued her run, nearly bumping into a masked blocker barreling out of the darkness straight towards her, not even knowing she was there. The young man yelped behind his mask as he felt all weight drain from his body, momentarily leaving the ground for a second. An elbow slammed into his gut, cutting the majestic flight short as he was driven into the concrete, stunned. He briefly caught a glimpse of a steel-eyed woman for a split second, before a boot crunched down onto his head, ushering a black curtain over him.

She stepped away from the knocked out recruit, navigating towards her next target by the sound of their boots as they rushed towards Tenzin's spectacular display against the tank, her fist slammed into another one's side, quickly downing the small man as she continued on, sweeping out the feet from another one before quickly springing up and side-stepping a clumsy bola thrown from close range, she suppressed the little smile that would always inevitably appear during a fight, setting her mouth in a determined line as she slammed both palms into the stomach of a third blocker, stumbling him as he lost the ability to respond or move effectively. She turned his lights out with a quick elbow to the face, and a small sigh rose from him as he slumped to the wet concrete, unconscious.

As she straightened she noticed a door nearby, half-hidden in shadows. The sound of a mecha tank powering down reached her ears, as Tenzin and his kids ran to her side while she stared at the black iron bars on the door, narrowing her eyes as she remembered being dragged through a door just like this one. "This is the door." she said without any hesitation, letting those bitter images of the sickly lit hallway within guide her answer.

She almost dared Tenzin to question her judgement, but that wasn't like him. He nodded, letting his eyes narrow as he stared into the sickly yellow hallway beyond the barred door. The kids stepped back from him as he stood next to Lin and took a deep breath. He swiped both palms forward side-by-side, and a barely-there spinning mass of wind drilled into the central bar of the reinforced door, the metal could only hold out for a scant second or two, before squealing loudly and buckling inwards, letting the wind spear force the lock open, and slamming the door into the wall with a loud clang that rang up and down the tunnel. Silence followed as they all listened for any shouts coming from in the dark before they all ran through one by one.

Tenzin skidded around a corner, nearly stumbling from a patch of water before grabbing the corner of the wall to stop himself. Lin stepped around him, running down the cell-lined hall, only stopping when she bent down near one of the cell openings, a cry of relief letting them all know that she was inside that cell. Immediately he ran towards his wife's distinctive voice, and nearly skidded to a halt when he heard Rohan crying, with relief they were both alright. The kids ran past him, standing next to Lin while Meelo stepped in front of the heavy cell door.

"Stand back, mommy!" he said in a loud, boisterous tone, sliding up his sleeves and rubbing his palms together. He grunted as he pulled the door of of it's hinges, quickly stumbling out of the way as it fell forwards into the hallway, a tired grin on him as he stood there. Jinora and Ikki ran into the cell, trapping their mothers legs with their arms as they laughed happily. Lin straightened, putting a hand on Tenzin's shoulder as he stepped into the cell, greeting his wife with a kiss before looping an arm around her for support. Rohan gurgled as he stared up at his father's relieved face, and the family slowly filed out of the cell, walking past Lin and towards the exit.

She followed closely behind, eager to leave the place, and some vivid memories, as quickly as possible. It warmed her to see Tenzin's family whole again, even if she felt a twinge of regret over the same fact. Shaking those old thoughts away she stepped through the ruined door frame after them, walking down the tunnel aways towards a ladder nearby, getting them access to the surface. "Everyone, up here."

They all nodded, and the children clambered up first, disappearing out of the open manhole above. Tenzin helped Pema up the ladder, holding onto Rohan the whole time as Lin followed up last, ready to leave the dark and dank tunnel behind. As Tenzin and Pema disappeared into the light above, she heard Ikki scream above, quickly she climbed up, and she popped out of the hole last, scowling as a pair of mecha tanks closed in from either side, with a crowd of people watching fearfully from nearby. She instantly switched on, thinking about how to disable them and how to protect Pema when a flurry of wires punctured the tanks, dragging them away from the family and their protector without any trouble. She blinked twice in confusion and whipped her head towards the pier, where an advancing host of metalbenders, with commander Makei at their front reeled the tanks towards them.

"Glad of you to join us, Lin." She stood there rooted to the spot, still processing what was happening. On a whim she turned around, and her eyes wandered upwards as an absolutely gargantuan beast of a ship slowly sailed past, with a trail of motorized boats spewing for from large loading bays in it's flanks, looking like a trail of grey colored ants as they flowed towards different points on the waterfront.

The city was being taken back.

* * *

"Finally. You are powerless." he watched the girl's body convulse as she tried to rise up against his control, but it was too much for her, and she collapsed against the floor, her eyes wide with fear as panic had her in it's grip. He tilted his head and a small amused smile grew behind the mask as she rose again, crawling towards him with the speed of a snail. She gritted her teeth as she managed to raise herself higher, throwing her fist at him in a futile attempt.

He suppressed a chuckle as the weak movement fell short, and she gasped as she fell onto her side, shivering as pain continued to wrack her body. Behind her the firebending boy had a barely there flame of rage in his eyes as he stared at the masked man, trying to pull himself closer while under the grip, but his fingers kept slipping and failing to find any seams or cracks in the floor to grab on to, and all he could do was glare.

A pained grunt made him turn his gaze towards the other boy, who struggled to rise as he rolled over to get more air into his lungs, still coughing and sputtering. Amon's gaze darkened as he bent down, wrapping a single hand around the boy's fragile neck. His eyes boggled and the coughing renewed as the terrorist lifted him off of the ground, kicking the sword away for good measure. "You should never have come here." he stated, raising his other hand to keep his grip over the other two teens.

A barely suppressed shiver rose from the avatar, and the boy in Amon's grasp glared with all of the remaining strength he had at the white mask. "I- won't-" he managed to choke out before Amon tightened his grip.

The mask moved closer to the boy's bleeding face. "You'll what?" he calmly asked.

Amon's grip on his neck was tight, but Tai managed to gasp out a few words. "Won't- let it- again!" he focused on the suffering pair on the floor nearby, trying to draw some kind of strength from them to do _something_.

"I told you. I had no part in their sacrifices." he admonished, focusing on the boy as he managed a growl amongst the coughing.

"My brother-"

"Your brother only blames you because your bending is uncontrolled." Amon's tone quietened a little as he recalled some of the times he spent with the two boys. Shaking the unnecessary distractions away he renewed his grip on Tai's neck, while also continuing his torture of the avatar and her friend. "When the house burnt down, I took him away to Republic City. If I had known you were alive as well I would ha-"

Tai growled again. "Would have what? Taken me as well? You filled him up with lies! He doesn't know what to believe now!" the boy was lucky that Amon had stopped actively squeezing down as he vented. "And when you did find out where I was, you didn't hold back did you? You destroyed Telei's home, killed _him_, all because I was training there!" he laughed bitterly with a hoarse voice. "I guess you had to finish the job huh?"

For the first time there was anger behind the mask as he squeezed again, cutting off the boy's scathing accusations instantly. Everything he knew about those events was wrong. The man's thoughts turned sour as he grimly accepted that he could nothing to convince him. He was just too far gone.

He sighed as he let the boy go, before lifting him into the air as he began convulsing and screaming painfully, as the internal pressure on his organs began to tighten and increase, as the terrorist aimed to give him a quick death.

"Amon!" the unmistakable voice of his lieutenant echoed through the storage room, and behind the mask his eyes widened for an instant, immediately going into panic about his secret being discovered by his most loyal followers. Even Tarrin might...

The lieutenant stepped forward with a growl on growl on his features, as he glared at Amon with equal parts horror and anger. He pointed and accusing finger at his 'savior'. "Everything the avatar said is true, isn't it?" Amon froze as a massive conflict ran within him. The man had been faithful to him for many ears, and has always been a trusted comrade. But then again he wasn't sure if even his lieutenant would stay quiet about _this_.

He was about to speak up, to calm the man down when he pulled off his mask and signature green goggles, throwing them to the floor. His foot crashed down, cracking the thick glass and breaking the brass frames, his face angry beyond words as he confronted his leader. "You traitor!"

Before Amon could react, he reached back, pulling both kali sticks out of their sheaths and running at him, spinning up the charge within their tips. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew this wouldn't work, but rational thought was the furthest from his grasp right now, all he wanted to do was to attack the betrayer, to beat him into the ground and end his sickness. But it wasn't to be as he was lifted into the air, his blood twisting and moving in horribly unnatural ways as his eyes widened from the unimaginable pain. He managed to retain a grip on his kali sticks as his vision dimmed.

Behind the mask, despair filled the man as he heaved a sad sigh. He had to do this. "You've served me well, Lieutenant." he murmured, clenching his fingers inwards. The man groaned audibly as his bones creaked and bent as his blood rebelled and thrashed. A single choking noise came out of his throat before a invisible hand slammed into his side, and he lost consciousness just before crashing into the pile of wooden stacks nearby.

The room was silent as Amon stared at the floor for a moment, quietly sparing a thought for his faithful comrade for a second, he turned his attention back to Tai, about to renew his assault when he noticed that the firebender was moving a bit more easily now. His control had been gradually lessening the entire time.

Amon walked past the quietly shaking avatar, pointing his hand at the recovering boy. The pain in Mako's body renewed as his blood thrashed around again, and he felt his balance tipping wildly as he was manipulated into a kneeling position by the advancing bloodbender. He stared down at the golden eyes for a moment, lost in some unpleasant memories for a few seconds. He shook them away as the boy's groans heightened for a moment, and he frowned as to why that was so. He noticed that the boy had managed to fully extend two fingers, and he tilted his head at the strange movement.

He watched as a snarl appeared on the firebender's features while he took a deep breath. Amon felt a slight tingle rush through the air for a moment, and immediately a spark of blue jumped off of boy's extended fingers, attracted to the brass buttons on his padded leather tunic. The frown appeared again as the little spark erupted into a full bolt of blue energy, slamming into him with massive force and sending bolts of electricity arcing through his muscles, setting his teeth on edge and making his skin tingle as his body spasmed. A grunt was taken out of him as the energy packed into the powerful arc sent him flying back, smoke rising off of his chest as he slammed into the wall, the breath being taken out of him as he bounced off of the hard surface, falling among a pile of junk.

Before the terrorist could react or get up, Mako straightened, breathing heavily with the strain of swinging his fist in a sloppy arc, a ball of fire arced into a pair of logs standing on their ends, knocking them to the ground as he sent another into the table nearby, spinning it into the air briefly before it clattered to a stop on top of Amon.

He swayed a little, blinking through the sweat as he saw that Korra was unconscious. Not caring that it would tire him out quickly, he bent down to pick her up, cradling her in his arms as he began to jog towards the closed doors, before stopping next to Tai as he stirred. He couldn't get them both out of here.

Tai opened an eye, drawing in a deep gasp of air as his body celebrated the end of that terrifying experience. Fighting through the immense jellied sensation in his muscles, he managed to push himself upright, breathing heavily as he looked at Mako with his one open eye. The other closed shut with a bruise. He despaired inside as he looked at Korra, seeing her broken down like this. He swallowed past the painful lump in his throat as he stared at the pile of junk, than at his sword nearby. Without skipping a beat he gave Mako a curt nod as he limped towards the abandoned blade.

"But-" the older boy started, realizing what he was going to do.

The boy suppressed a sigh, instead giving Mako a tired mirk. "Get her out of here, she's more important than I am." as he said these words, the rational part of him began shouting and screaming, before the rest of him sighed and put it down, grimly accepting what he was going to do.

He didn't like it, but he understood. "Good luck." he said, before leaving him to kick the doors open, disappearing into the hallway, getting himself and Korra away from the overwhelming bender.

As the doors swung shut, the boy swayed unsteadily, feeling all of the aches and itches that were always left over from being manipulated like that. He took a deep breath as he bent down to pick the sword up, holding it out from him with both hands as he took a few steps towards the log pile, where nothing had stirred yet. He took the lull to take in a few more gulps of air, breathing quietly as he tipped his head up, closing his eyes.

Huh. He thought it would feel gratifying being here, about to finally have his chance at avenging his family, for everything the man had done to them. But there was almost nothing at all, no burning anger, no consuming sadness or even satisfaction. No. All of his thoughts were inexplicably turned towards the girl being carried away from this room. He nearly chuckled, maybe it wasn't so strange that he had changed over the past few months.

A new goal planted itself into his mind. Protect her from him. Even if it would cost the boy everything he had. Not that he had much to begin with.

The deep breaths calmed him down, and managed to push away the fog that dully throbbed in his head, giving him a clearer picture of everything and making his thoughts flow much better. The logpile shook as a gloved hand popped out of from under one of the ruined tables, shoving it aside as a white mask rose out of the pile of junk, focusing intently on the double doors nearby.

Tai cleared his throat loudly, bringing Amon's attention towards him. "You won't stop me." the wood screeched as it snapped under his boots, and the terrorist straightened to face the boy. "I could put you down, with one little movement."

He shook his head. "Doesn't matter to me. I'm not letting you go."

The man moved towards him slowly, showing no signs of injury from being flung into the wall. "A foolish decision."

The boy didn't have time for it, feeling only a strange curiosity as he outstretched the blade's tip towards the white mask. "I just want to know why you did it before we do this." he said, fighting hard to keep his voice level.

"Very well." the voice behind the mask began to strain as the man looked down at the floor. "Your father found something beneath the house, something dangerous that had to kept out of the wrong hands."

"So it _was_ because yo-" his voice began to rise when the terrorist kept talking, not stopping for his interruption.

"There are things that live alongside us, hidden from sight. Spirits." he said as his voice softened a bit. "They watch us constantly, some of them with good intentions." the boy tried to interrupt, dreading the cold feeling spreading up his spine as he tried to suppress a shiver, uncomfortably with how this was turning out.

"Get to the point." he growled.

Amon nodded. "Koh. Koh the facestealer is one of these spirits."

Tai's blood froze, being reminded of all of the stories his dad told about the malevolent spirit who stole your face at the slightest hint of emotion. "What about it?" he whispered, his hold on the sword loosening a little.

"Eighteen years ago, he and I were part of a task force under commander Bumi, investigating the disappearance of every man, woman, and child. We found only one man." he fell quiet for a moment, and the boy thought he could see the implacable man's shoulders sag a little. "The 'black day' they call it."

His heart skipped a beat, and his grip on his sword slackened as he slowly realized who the man was. "No..." he whispered, desperately hoping that it wasn't true, trying to remember that he couldn't trust the words of a man hiding behind a mask.

"Telei. He used everyone in the village as... _fuel__... _for some kind of ritual to bring something from the other side." the terrorist's words were now whispers, and the boy had to strain to hear the next part. "We managed to stop whatever he was trying to bring through, but he escaped in the process."

"Wait-" he started, trying to cut him off before his world could be shattered any more.

The man ignored him, his hands bunching into shaking fists. "Everyone was dead. Every. Single. One of them. All because of that _madman_ you call master."

The boy was rooted to the spot, his mind going numb as he tried to form a retort, but Amon continued his words. "Bending is a plague on the world, and must be _stamped out_." he growled.

He yelped as Amon quickly whipped his hand up, wrenching the boy through the air towards him. His other hand formed into a fist as he slammed it into the boy's stomach, who cried out for an instant, his eyes boggling as everything began to flicker and dim dangerously. His blade fell from his grip as Amon threw him to the floor, leaving him in a crumpled heap before throwing the doors open and stepping outside.

* * *

Mako stumbled for a few seconds, losing his balance while trying to keep the girl in his arms steady as he skidded around the corner, biting down on a swear as his shoulder crunched into the wall, ignoring the dull throb blooming he continued his jog, although he was beginning to slow down. His breathing grew more and more ragged as he carried her down the hallway, and slowed down considerably just before the halfway point, needing to take a breather. Before he stopped completely he glanced behind himself, making sure that Amon wasn't already pursuing.

Sighing with relief he leaned against the wall for a moment, as the girl stirred, her eyes opening slowly. "Is he..." was all she could say before her eyes closed again, and she blacked out again. After a few seconds of getting his breath back, he resumed his jog up the hallway, about to reach the junction when a trio of blockers walked around the corner straight towards them. He didn't wait for them to notice as he sent two streams of fire slamming into their chests, sending the two equalists tumbling back into the wall with muffled cries, already unconscious.

He did a U turn and ran back down the hallway, slightly hopeful that they could at least outrun one man rather than a whole army. He nearly lost his balance again, and quickly used his body to shield the girl as he crunched into the wall again. He hissed quietly, but kept going, jogging down the hallway, which he now noticed ended abruptly at a closed window, with two doors on either side of it. His chest heaved, as desperation overwhelmed when he realized that they were trapped. He glanced down at Korra, who opened her eyes again, looking at him weakly. "Mako... my bending..."

His thoughts snapped into overdrive, and started ignoring the fact that they were trapped, he focused on one of the closed doors, holding onto it for a lifeline in the hope that they would get out of here. Or at least avoid the notice of the bloodbender. He realized he had gone pale as he looked back down at Korra. He started up the jog again. "Everything will be alright! We just need to get out of here!" he said quickly, trying to calm himself down rather than her. He drew a bit closer to the closed doors when a iron like grip clamped down on every inch of his body. He yelled as his muscles began cramping and contracting, as he crumpled to the floor, the girl flew from his grasp, sliding to a halt a few metres ahead.

Mako's eyes widened as his body was wrenched upwards, and the breath was taken out of him as his back slammed into the metal ceiling of the hallway, forcing a pained grunt out of him. He didn't hang there for long, and soon enough the process was repeated as he was slammed around by an invisble fist into the walls and floor, before finally crumpling into a shaking heap before the slowly advancing terrorist. His mind worked to pick up all the pieces as his ears rang terribly, muffling the words of Amon.

"I'm impressed. No one has ever gotten the better of me like that." he heard him say with a faint tone of amusement in the deep voice. Mako groaned as he forced his muscles to move under the control, and he managed to push himself off the floor before the grip over him grew, and he lost all mobility as he was wrenched into a upright kneeling position, shaking terribly as his wide eyes stared at the ceiling above.

The terrorist continued his taunting of the firebender as he moved into position behind him. "It's almost a shame to take the bending of one so talented. _Almost_." for first time in a long time, Mako felt genuine fear as the man's fingers moved towards his forehead and neck, and he suppressed a shiver for Korra's sake as they were about to touch down.

* * *

潮


	33. The End, and The Beginning

Slowly, the boy recovered, groaning as he pushed himself off of the floor a little, before rolling over to stare at the ceiling, breathing heavily as his mind worked to put itself back together.

Well. That didn't last long.

He thought he should have been feeling angry, should have been raging at the fact that the terrorist had slipped away from him again. But in reality, he felt sadness as he realized that he now had clear access to Korra and Mako, and would most likely catch up with them before he could recover.

That thought sparked an indignant flame in him, one that continued to grow as something inside screamed at the boy to fight it off and get up. He had people depending on him now. He didn't want to listen, he wanted to stay there, staring up at the ceiling and remaining trapped in his own thoughts. But that little voice had something different in mind, and right now it was telling him to stand up, pick up his sword, and run out there. Sometimes he really hated that voice.

The boy bit down a groan as he worked to sit upright, muscles he didn't know he had introducing themselves with a terrible dull throb as his breathing increased. But he did it, and he heaved a breath of relief as the pain dulled, and he found that he could breath much more easily than before. Sitting still for a few seconds, he found himself looking at the pile of wrecked wood beams where he had thrown his lieutenant into.

While the guy had caused him a lot of grief and many electrical burns, he would hate himself if he didn't check to see if he was still breathing. A strangled grunt came out of the boy as he took a few deep breaths, getting ready to try and stand up straight. As soon as he managed to straightened his legs, his muscles turned to jelly, and he started flailing around, only managing to right himself using a quick gust of air at the ground behind him. The nearby stack of fallen wood beams groaned, and Tai glanced at it for a moment, before starting to limp towards where a barely moving gloved hand was visible, it's fingers trying to push the beam away, failing at the gargantuan task.

He hissed and clamped a hand down on his side, stopping for a moment when he noticed a blooming patch of red on his left side. He felt lightheaded for a moment, and tried shaking his head to clear it away. That only served to make it worse, and his vision spun a little as he limped slowly towards the downed lieutenant. He forced himself into a faster limp as the pile shifted again, but the fingers became slow in their movements. "Hang on!" he cried out, trying to choke out the words past his tortured and hoarse throat.

It was painful to swallow, but it cleared his throat as he nudged a block of wood out of his path, sending it skidding away under the shelves as he bent down to try his luck at lifting the heavy beam. He gritted his teeth as his vision began swimming again, and a dizzying sensation took root in his head while his already-suffering muscles squealed in protest. He pushed through the burning waves of pain, and with one final grunt of effort he managed to move it enough so that it slid off of the pile, revealing the battered lieutenant.

The boy straightened, his chest heaving as he took in great gulps of air, trying to replace the spent energy he exerted. It wasn't working very well as his extremities began to numb, signalling that he was about to collapse very soon. He pushed that thought down as he bent down again, grabbing the man's wrist with both hands and pulling as hard as he could. Slowly he came free, but the pile began to flatten in protest, making it harder and harder to pull him out. Quickly the boy took one of his hands away, aiming an open palm at the wood pile. He took a deep breath, and his nerves burned as they worked to get a little bit of juice to his hand. The burning sensation intensified briefly as a stream of uncontrolled wind flung the wooden beams off of the injured man, lessening the load and allowing him to breathe without being hindered.

The man's grey eyes fluttered open as Tai pulled him away from the pile, dropping his wrist and doubling over, gasping for air again as he recovered from the effort. "You..." the man fell quiet as he groaned, placing a hand on his side and screwing his eyes shut for a moment. They came open with a bit more clarity after he took a deep and pained breath. "Why?"

He couldn't help looking away from the bruised and battered man's devastated expression, images of his home burning down overwhelming him for a brief moment. They went away, as he glanced at the former lieutenant, a soft look in his eyes. "He's hurt both of us. I know what your going through."

"No, you don't." he murmured. "You don't know what I've given up in following him." the boy looked down at the floor, chastened as the man stared at the far wall with a dull and blank look on his features, the sign of a broken man.

"Thank you." the boy looked up, mildly surprised at that as the former lieutenant picked himself up, taking in a deep breath while looking at the double doors. "He would have caught up with her by now."

Tai nodded. "I won't be able to do much-"

"So why not leave?"

The question stopped the boy cold, and he had to admit, that did sound more attractive than being beaten to a pulp by the bloodbender. His features darkened though. No, he won't run away. "They're my friends. I won't abandon them." he said quietly, determined on holding onto that single thought as much as possible. He stared at his sword, wondering what he could possibly do. He had to finally accept that he was completely outmatched.

The lieutenant nodded. "Take him down." the words were simple, and all that he felt the need to say before limping away from the boy, dragging himself out into the hallway, his feet echoing back to the boy for a bit, before fading away completely. The room was quiet as Tai stood there, focusing on a puddle of water forming nearby. Not quite knowing why, he dragged himself over to it, staring at the completely exhausted and battered figure in it's surface, frowning as he noticed the massive bruising on left cheek, cuts that were barely covered by his cuffs, and the absolutely haggard eyes staring back at him.

It made him chuckle, oddly enough, and his throat burned as his chuckles turned into coughing and sputterring. Wiping his lips with a dirty cuff he turned and limped towards the double doors, eager to leave the room behind, even though what lay outside in the hallway was even worse. He swallowed before taking a deep breath, steeling himself for the brutal punishment that was in store.

Squaring his shoulders and raising his chin up, he placed a hand on one of the doors, ready to push when a a strange whistling noise echoed down the hallway, tickling his ears with a familiar sensation as his eyes widened, peering outside to sate his curiosity. He hoped that Amon wouldn't see him, before he heard the deep voice grunt as something slammed into him. Tightening his grip on his sword, he limped out into the hallway, a yell rising in his throat as he readied himself as a distraction for them to escape-

A strong breeze ruffled his hair, and he blinked in confusion at the scene in front of him. Korra had her back turned to him, leaning on the wall for support as she stared in confusion at her clenched fists. "I - I can airbend?" he heard her say. He watched as she pushed off of the wall, seeming to gain strength from the revelation, as she glared at the hooded man recovering from a powerful blow. "I can airbend!"

He took a step forward, not quite sure what was going on when she swung her fists in powerful arcs, forming the air near them into twisting streams of wild air that slammed into Amon, knocking him around as he tried to recover.

But the implacable man managed to aim a open hand at her, clenching his fingers as he exerted control over the girl, trying to crush her short lived hope. Korra's eyes widened as she felt her chance of winning the battle slip away again, and despair threatened to overcome her as her blood thrashed about. In answer to the crushing pain, a fire sparked in her, and her eyes flashed dangerously as she took a step forward, powering through the debilitating grip. "No - you - don't!" she yelled, a blazing glare in her eyes as she lifted her leg, kicking a spiralling spear of gale force wind towards the terrorist. Behind the mask, his eyes widened in shock as it slammed into his chest, taking him off his feet and crashing through the window behind him, dropping away into the open space outside the arena's walls.

She had done it. He limped forwards a bit, reaching a hand towards her as she stood there for a few seconds, breathing heavily while staring in wonder at her own two hands. On the floor nearby, Mako groaned as he sat up, a grin breaking out on his features as Korra ran towards him, bending down to help him to his feet. Tai took back his hand as the two of them moved towards the blasted open wall, having to cover their eyes as the sun shone down on them.

Thoughts of shouting to get their attention made themselves known, but the boy dismissed them as he slowly limped towards the two of them, who he noticed were now holding hands for some odd reason. Shaking away those thoughts away, he kept going forward, dropping his sword to the floor as it began to prove too heavy for him to carry.

"You did it." the two of them turned around, a look of concern on Korra as she studied all of the wounds on him. Mako had a equal look of shock as well, which Tai had to admit, he had never seen before. He found it oddly priceless to look at. "Good job." he couldn't hide the groan as he accidentally placed too much pressure on his bad leg, and he stumbled, tipping onto the wall for support. The two of them quickly shot towards the boy and grabbed his shoulders, supporting him as angry shouts began to rise from outside.

"Team effort." she murmured softly, giving Mako a strange look at the same time, impossibly filled with warmth.

Despite the terrible state he was in, the older boy rolled his eyes. "Thanks." he said, his stupid grin was wiped off when the shouting grew louder and more intense. The three of them looked out of the hole, peering down at the crowd below. The assembled people spotted them easily, and their shouting increased again as insults were being mixed in.

"You bending tyrant!" a woman shouted, the crowd agreeing and nodding to each other. A man with mutton chops and wild yellow eyes nodded vigorously as he held a ever-present loudspeaker to his lips, raising a fist in the air to rally the crowd. "Evil Avatar!" he shouted as well, his already impossibly loud voice carrying even further through the mouthpiece.

They ignored the continuing jibes and indignated insults, staring anxiously at the white mask floating on the water's surface near the edge of the pier, wondering if the man was still alive. None of them would shed a tear if that wasn't the case. The crowd continued to shift and shout angrily as a stream of bubbles began breaking the still water around the iconic mask, soon frothing as if a great beast was rising from underneath the surface.

The water's surface broke violently as a great spinning mass forced it's way up, rising higher and higher above, nearly reaching halfway up the height of the arena. The crowd fell silent as shock dawned on them, as they stared at the dark clothed man who balanced on top of the waterspout, the terrible scar they saw at the rally mysteriously vanished. Confusion rippled through them as they began to murmur amongst themselves.

"He's waterbending!"

"He is a bender!"

"The scar is fake!"

These murmurs continued until one single sentence that changed the crowd's minds completely. "The Avatar was telling the truth!", they began to shout and bay again, this time directing their wrath towards the man who had pulled the wool over their collective eyes.

The man's eyes were wide, shock and anger mixing in them as he glared down at the avatar, who returned it with an even greater one, a cold fire in her eyes. Curiously, as Amon looked at the boy being supported by them, regret replaced his anger. The waterspout dissipated, and he dropped underneath the waves, a trail of bubbles following his movement as he sped through the water like a torpedo, carving a trail of disturbed waves towards the little island in the distance.

Below the crowd continued their murmurs, eventually beginning to break apart and go their separate ways. Tai moved away from the two teens, leaning against the wall as his vision began to dim, pain beginning to take him over as everything started spinning. The last clear thing he saw, was Korra and Mako, running towards him as the boy finally lost consciousness, allowing his injuries to finally lull him into sleep.

Air Temple Island.

The morning sun rose over the smoke-filled city, it's light being caught in the twisted metal of downed airships and wrecked tanks, being reflected off of the churning waters in which a fleet of wrecked ships silently slumbered, broken and torn apart by the very flying machines that dotted various areas around the city where they had crashed, being brought down by either a lack of fuel or no homebase to return to. Still, amidst all of these destruction and carnage people moved about, getting to work rebuilding their homes and neighborhoods. The sight of benders helping their non-bending counterparts was repeated dozens of times across the city, almost as if the nightmare that had taken over was already being forgotten.

These moments of kindness were interrupted by remaining equalist remnants, who were trying to escape into the mountains around the metropolis, to being plotting again. They were weakened, and without their top two commanders. Still, they were still a menace, and their leader had avoided capture by the police, being spotted escaping on foot along the eastern highway, which led straight to the earth kingdom borders. The officer reporting the incident had nearly been killed by the two black swords the equalist leader carried with him at all times.

A flock of lemurs took flight, rushing out of the massive tree in a giant mass as they chittered irritably, cursing the massive ship that had just pulled in towards the pier, on which Tenzin and his family waited together. He placed a gentle on hand on his wife's arm, who smiled as she squeezed his hand, glad that everything was beginning to calm down. They looked down at the little bundle of joy in her arms, who gurgled endlessly as he stared up at his two parents, and also at Meelo, who had sat on his dad's shoulders to get a better look at his baby brother. Jinora looked up at her two little brothers with a warm smile before Naga nudged the airbender with her snout, which Ikki giggled out while rocking back and forth on her saddle, a large grin on her.

Tenzin's warmth dropped away a little when he watched Korra's shoulders slump, as Lin laid a comforting hand on her. "I can't believe he got you too." she murmured, knowing how hard she would be taking it. The girl barely nodded her head as she stared at the stone underneath their feet, trying to avoid looking at anyone, in case they would try to tell her everything would be alright.

Bolin noticed this, and immediately he felt the need to say something to try and cheer her up. "Hey, at least you unlocked your airbending!" he winced inside as everyone stared at him incredulously.

His brother in particular almost glowered, before his eyes softened. "Bro, not the time." he said, turning back to looking at the ground at his feet, momentarily lost in what he could do to help her. He glanced up, seeing that the same thoughts were running through Asami as well.

He held his hands in apology, not able to help the big ill-placed grin breaking out on him. Inside he felt guilty and idiotic. "Right, right. I'll just stand over here." he backed away a little as they began to turn their attention back to Korra, not able to stop the next words coming out of him. "Quietly." his eyes widened for a moment as Mako sighed. Bolin clamped his hands over his mouth to stop anything else from coming out, and once again was unable to stop. "In silence." he whispered, glancing away from Pabu's scathing looks.

Tenzin shook his head sadly as he walked past Bolin, clapping his shoulder in sympathy before moving towards Korra. He caught Lin's eye, and the woman gave him a gentle smile as she got the message, letting him through to the down girl. "Korra. Can you help me with something?" he asked, wanting to take her mind off of the loss of her bending for at least a few minutes.

It took her a few seconds to register he was standing there. She couldn't help the sigh as she turned around, still staring down at the ground. "Yes, Tenzin?" she said rigidly, not in the mood for doing anything but moping.

"Our patient will need some assistance getting down to the docks, wouldn't you agree?"

Slowly she nodded, her mind grumbling that it would least take her mind off the gnawing maw where a lot of her used to be. "Okay." she mumbled, trudging past him and towards the ramp going to the top of the island. He followed her up, rubbing Jinora's head for a moment before continuing after the depressed girl, who he noticed had picked up pace a little, as if eager to get away from everyone on the pier.

He caught up to her, using a bit of wind to get him to her side quickly. "How are you doing?" he glanced at her, seeing that she was still staring down at the ground whenever possible, when she did look up to see where she was going, she pointedly avoided looking at him. He sighed.

That sigh seemed to rile her up, strangely. "I bet you're glad I can finally airbend, right?" she said bitterly, holding herself as she walked across the lonely courtyard, leaving him to stand still for a few seconds. This wasn't good.

The master sighed again, using another gust of wind to catch up to her, just before she reached the steps, he placed a hand on her shoulder, firmly stopping her from moving. She stopped, continuing her stare at the ground. "Korra I-"

"Leave me alone." she muttered, running up the steps to get away from him.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing as he felt frustration creeping up on him. The feeling dulled a little when though, she was right to be acting like this. He'd probably be doing the same thing in her position. He made his way up the steps, slowly drawing closer and closer to the main temple. His feet found flat ground, and he walked past the pond, turning to head into the covered walkway that connected two parts of the building ahead. He made his way into the main entrance's door, ducking under a buckled wooden beam as he stopped for a moment, hearing a few quiet sobs coming from upstairs, near where they had carried Tai to a healing room.

The man grimaced as he climbed up the wooden steps, holding onto the chipped and cracked railing with one hand, hearing more of her sobs again. The floorboards creaked as he left the staircase, walking down the hallway past a line of closed doors towards the open one at the very end, through which the sobbing carried through clearly, leaving a sad imprint on him as he approached the open door, stopping by it as he saw her leaning on the balcony, her shoulders shaking as she stared out at the landscape.

Stepping through quietly, so as not to disturb the recovering airbender just yet, he slowly approached the devastated avatar, stopping just behind her. "Remember that time when you were seven years old? Taking your first lessons in firebending at the compound, remember what happened?" he said quietly, not quite knowing what else he could do.

The sobbing cease for a moment, and the girl's hands tightened around the railing. "I burned him, I hurt Boto." she murmured bitterly, throwing a dark look at Tenzin as if asking why he was bringing this up.

He nodded. "And what did you do?" he took a step forward, his eyes softening as he noticed the tears still drying on her cheeks.

"I ran." she whispered, staring down at the trees below as best as she could.

"It took us three days to cut through that blizzard to find you. When we did, Boto was happy to find you were safe."

"Get to the point Tenzin!" she snapped, the railing cracking a little as her grip tightened.

He nodded again. "He offered to be your partner, even though he was afraid that he might get burned again. Do you know why?"

A bitter laugh escaped her. "Because I'm the Avatar. He was doing his part-"

"He was your friend. And he still doesn't care that you're the Avatar." Tenzin's words stilled her, and her eyes widened in surprise as he continued. "Korra, even if you couldn't produce a single spark, or raise a tiny pebble, or disturb a puddle of water, we would still be here for you." he finished, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder as her sobs slowed down, now much less frequent. "I don't know how you keep forgetting that." he murmured.

Despite the absolutely dark place she was in now, she didn't protest as he gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. She mulled it over for a few seconds, trying to get past the wall of self-pity she had put up. Slowly it was eroded away, and replaced with a growing seed of warmth as she glanced over her shoulder at the resting boy in the room behind them. "Sorry." she mumbled.

"Don't be, I did the same thing when I was your age." he gave her a smirk, which looked so out of place on his normally stoic face that she actually laughed.

"Yeah?" she asked, feeling a little better about her place in the world.

He nodded. "Mmhm. My father was great at forcing me out of my hiding places. Usually using a tornado to do so."

They both stood side by side as they watched the sun break through the clouds above, finally getting the chance to shine down on the bay below, which sparkled brilliantly under it's light. A frown played on her lips as she glanced back at the room, which Tenzin noticed. "Tenzin. This might sound weird but... you remember Amon's words, back at the rally?"

He grimaced, remembering the terrible danger his family was in as he nodded. "I do."

She continued on, a thought niggling at her. "He said that Tai's father and brother were - taken - from him, during that night. But... what about his mom?" she asked, frowning a little as she noticed the wistful look on him. "Tenzin?"

He let go of a sigh he seemed to be holding in before turning to her. "You must promise me he doesn't find out."

Her skin prickled as she blinked twice, not believing that he would say something like that. "Is something wron-"

"She's alive, Korra. And he can't ever know that." he said quickly, paling a little as he threw glances at the room behind them.

She fell quiet for a moment before looking at him. "Why?" she whispered.

"She came to me a few days before you arrived in Republic City, saying she was working on something important. Something that would stop the Dark Day happening ever again-"

"But what is the Dark Day-" she tried to ask, succeeding in making him stop.

He looked at the brightening trees below before answering. "It occurred two years before your birth. A dangerous man was trying to bring Koh into this world."

"What?" she asked, paling a little before a cough in the other room interrupted them.

"Hello?" the boy called out in a hoarse voice. She nodded at Tenzin, before jogging back into the room, seeing that Tai was trying and failing to sit upright in the bed.

"Don't move." she cautioned, getting a frustrated sigh in answer as he flopped back down, groaning a little as his muscles protested the rough treatment.

She nearly winced at the massive bags under his eyes and the bruise slapped across his cheek, doubting the rest of him looked any better.

The girl opened her pouch and moved her hands in slow and graceful arcs, coaxing the water within to come out and float in front of her fingers. She had to double her efforts as the stream threatened to fall onto the sheets, and she bit back a frustrated grunt as she finally got it under control.

She made a little motion to collect it into a softly glowing blob and jerked her chin at the boy.

He knew what she meant by now. Failing to suppress the pained groan he straightened and took off his grey shirt, laying it next to her knee. He stared at the bedsheets, not quite sure what to say to her now that the excitement was over.

Tenzin probably thought he wouldn't notice, but Tai saw him quietly walk across the far side of the room, sticking close to the wall as he left the two of them in there. "I don't think Tenzin knows this. But I met him once. As a kid."

He watched her eyes, to check for any kind of reaction from her. At least something that told him she wasn't focusing on what Noatok did to her. They had barely flickered upwards from her work on his wounds. "It was... some kind of parade or something. My dad took me and my brother the entire way from our village just to see it." Despite the gloomy feeling in the room, he had a small smile. "I think it was New Years or something. There was this big dragon costume worn by at least twenty firebenders, I can't really remember what the other ones were."

"Your point?" He heard her whisper, seeing that her teeth were clenched.

"I don't know why but after the parade, Tenzin greeted my dad like a old friend or something. I didn't have the patience for it though. I was crying the entire time, I just wanted to go home now that the fun was over."

"Whatever."

"Not done yet. You know what happened after? Tenzin just looks down at me, and smiles as he showed me a marble. Then he did this little - this little _pointless_ trick - that made me laugh so much that I stopped crying." Tai flexed his palm, pushing a gentle stream of air down onto the sheets to make them flutter. "And then I, I don't know how I did this, I managed to airbend for the first time. Took home a little souvenir from the parade."

Korra's eyebrow lifted at the sight of a small cloudly white orb, its surface worn down and cracks showing on its surface.

The boy paused, wincing a little as the healing blob pressed a little too much on a aching muscle in his shoulder. He looked her in the eyes, his own filled with wistfulness. "I think the reason I agreed to stay on Air Temple Island was because of that moment."

He looked at her again, waiting for a reaction. "You stayed because of a marble?"

"Actually, I stayed because of you."

She didn't say anything, instead giving him a strange look as the ball moved up to his shoulder and made the boy sigh with relief as the massive bruising began to recede. Korra refocused her efforts, sticking her tongue out a little as she moved the ball across his neck and onto his other shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he asked, the girl sighed explosively as she rolled her eyes, looking at him with a smoldering gaze.

"Who's being healed here?" she snapped at him, looking at the wall as she folded her arms.

The boy was quiet for a moment, wondering if he really should say this now. "I didn't mean physically. He took yo-"

"I know." she hissed, her roiling emotions making the ball of water harden and thrash around on his skin.

He didn't seem to notice that it was doing this. "Looks like we didn't win." he murmured, falling quiet as he watched Korra's shoulders begin to shake. The ball of water picked up on this and the boy couldn't contain the sharp yelp, the girl whipped around and noticed, quickly getting control back on the blob. It seemed to take a lot out of her to even try controlling it.

"Sorry." she mumbled, trying to avoid his looks as she ran the little ball of liquid down his side.

"Can't Katara get it back?" he whispered, trying to step carefully around her.

"We'll see." she said, without any kind of emotion or tone as she picked the ball apart, shuddering rather than streaming back into her pouch. She drew her knees up close and wrapped her arms around them, staring at the wall next to his head. "I hope so."

Tai felt absolutely floored as he pulled his shirt back on, seeing her like this, seeing that who she was had been taken away from her. He knew what that was like. A stray thought ran into his head, throwing out all others as it forced him to do something drastic. His arms shot forward, and grabbed her in a embrace. "You've pulled me out of the fire so many times, Korra. I'm here for you."

"I-" She nodded and rested her head on his shoulder, the gravity of her situation constricting her even more than before. After a few seconds she pulled away, standing up while extending her hand to him.

He nodded and threw the sheets away from him, carefully swinging his legs over the side as a wave of dizziness occupied him for a few seconds. He held onto her hand as a lifeline, and the dizziness worsened as he straightened fully. She lopped an arm around him, and helped him out of the room. Soon enough the boy's vision continued to dim, as whatever was done to him threatened the loss of consciousness again.

* * *

_Southern Sea._

He awoke, his mind being seared with pain as through a red haze he noticed clouds rushing by above, and the alarmed voices around him sounded muted, all he could really focus on was the blinding pain. Weakly, he held his hand up, seeing that it was covered in red dripping stuff, and his mind began to swim again as he stared in shock at the crimson liquid.

The girl blinked frantically as she looked down at him, her blue eyes almost completely overtaken by panic as the absolutely tiny blob of water she was trying to hold over the gushing wound sputtered and shaked, before she lost consciousness and fell back into a golden eyed teenager's arms, while a orange robed woman and a panicking boy with a ferret on his shoulders paled as he clamped a heavy wad of bandages down on the wound, blinking desperately as he tried to stem the blood's flow.

A strike of lightning flashed throughout the sky, and as he saw it his head filled with a blinding white pain, and he fell back into unconsciousness, the only thought going through him was that it might be his last.

* * *

_White Lotus Compound, Southern Water Tribe._

Bu-Bump. Bu-Bump. The only noise he could hear was that of his own heart beat, which seemed to be so close that he thought it moved around somehow while he was unconscious.

That thought was banished with a gasped as his eyes shot open, shooting upright as he took in great gasps of air, in a daze as his mind worked to put itself back together. He saw those same blue eyes from before, and as his vision swam and everything was obscured by a annoying bright blur he said one word. "Korra?!"

A chuckle answered him, filled with impossible warmth while still managing to embarrass the recovering boy. "I'm afraid you have the wrong person, young man. My name is Katara." the wizened and kind face of an old woman, with some kind of hair loopy things framing her gentle features, leaned over him as she reached an soft hand to his forehead.

He didn't protest, still dizzy and out of it. "Ka-" he coughed and sputtered, and a little old lady smirk appeared on her, he swallowed past the painful lump in his throat. "Sorry. Katara?"

The hair loopies hypnotized him as they swung from side to side as the old woman laughed. "The one and only, young man."

Despite all of the painful memories of recent events coming back to him, trying to weigh him down, he chuckled as well. "My name is Tai."

She wagged a finger at him, and once again he felt like a little kid. "I know. My son told me as soon as you all arrived." she sighed for a moment, the vestiges of a warm grin forming. "It's so warming to see that there are more airbenders in the world."

"Uh, yeah..." his cheeks tinged as he realized he had no clue what to say about that, instead he looked through the window, staring at the cold, empty wastes, taking a deep breath as it's haunting beauty got to him. "How long was I out?" he asked, tearing himself away from the beautifully empty landscape.

"A couple of hours. Korra used everything she had to keep you alive." she explained, raising a small stream of water from a bowl nearby and forming it into a perfectly shaped sphere, which caved in slightly as she pressed it down on his bandaged chest. It was at that moment the boy realized he wasn't wearing a shirt. Or pants for that matter.

The thought made him redden, and the old woman laughed again, pointing a mitten covered hand at the grey shirt and black pants folded neatly on the bench nearby. He sighed with relief as his eyes fell on the black longcoat, which looked almost brand new as he noticed it had been cleaned thoroughly. There wasn't even any holes or jagged gashes in the material.

He went to move for them when she pushed him back down with a gentle hand, shaking her head as he stopped the grumble from rising out of his throat. "That's four times she's healed me now." he murmured, more less speaking to himself rather than Katara.

She hummed with satisfaction and drew the sphere away from his skin, gently guiding the water back into the bowl, letting it rejoin the still pool. She noticed him looking at the clothes nearby, and she nodded her assent.

Immediately he went to stand, trying to push himself off of the low lying and flat bed, instead he ended up tumbling onto the wooden floor, groaning softly as his face met the hard surface. The old woman laughed again, and he ignored it, stalking over to the pants first, stepping through them carefully.

He wriggled his toes as his feet came out of each hole, and he sighed as the warm material clung to his skin nicely. That sigh dropped away as a flash of the girl's desperate look during the flight over appeared for a moment. He frowned as he shrugged the grey shirt on, tugging at it as he glanced at the old woman.

"How is she?" he asked quietly, running his fingers over the smooth material on his longcoat as he heard a sigh behind him.

"Not good. I'm afraid her connection to every element apart from air has been completely severed now." she sadly explained.

The boy stiffened as he remembered how weak her healing had become, and he suppressed a open growl as a flash of the masked man taking away her bending came to him. He didn't say anything as he stuffed his arms through the long coat, feeling that familiar sensation cover his bare forearms. A knock on the door made Katara look up, who was about to shuffle towards it when Tai ran over before she could get there, wanting to let the old woman rest as he slid the door open, revealing a tall and reedy man with a grim look on him. It lifted as he saw the boy, who stepped back to let him into the room.

Katara stood up, squeezing his shoulder as she stepped out of the open door and into the large room beyond, leaving the two airbenders to their own devices. The boy cleared his throat quietly as he sat on the bench nearby, staring at the floor as if it could do the talking for him. "Is the baby-"

Tenzin nodded, sitting down next to him and looking at the floor as well. "They're all okay." he said, glancing at the boy. He sighed as he saw the bandages poking out from under the boy's black sleeves. "How about you?"

The boy forced a chuckle out, as images of the girl's devastated expression continued to haunt him. "I always bounce back." he murmured unconvincingly, even failing to sway himself.

"My mother told me it was bloodbending that did that to you. There aren't many healers around who can mend that kind of wound." he said, settling his gaze on the haunting snow outside.

"It's my fault." the boy suddenly blurted, causing Tenzin to glance at him with an arched eyebrow. "If I hadn't gotten myself hurt, than she would still have her wat-"

"Stop blaming yourself." the man said with a sigh, stopping the boy instantly. "Amon had already gotten to her before she started healing you. He did that to Korra, not you."

He fell silent, finding that he was nodding at the man's words. "Okay. Still doesn't change the fact that she-" he cut himself off, as he realized he had no idea what she was going to be like from now on.

"Yes. Her bending is important to her, but she'll be alright. It'll take a bit of time." he calmly said, stealing a wistful look at him before looking back at the floor. "But it's all over now. He's gone and the revolution is finished."

"The revolution is finished." he repeated, glancing at his master. "Somehow, I don't think it'll be that simple." he looked down at the floor for a moment. "I need to continue my training.

His master answered him with a gentle clap on the shoulder before standing up and moving towards the door, waiting for him to do the same. He followed him through, stepping around Bolin before stopping by his side, sitting on the arm of the hard-backed futon. The earthbender had a frown on him as he stared through the crack in the door ahead, having eyes only for the girl sitting with her back turned to them. Tai saw her as well, and quickly looked down at the floor, a irrational spike of guilt lancing through him. His guilt only intensified when he saw the large brown skinned man nearby, a comforting arm around a tiny-compared-to-him woman who looked down at the floor, quiet as a mouse.

That was her _mom_, that was her _dad_.

He stood up, as did everybody else in the room, when Katara stepped out of the room, a impossibly sad look on her. She clasped her hands, and bowed her head. "I've tried everything in my power, but, I can not restore Korra's bending."

Tai saw the incredible disappointment and sadness on Tenzin's long face, while nearby Lin stepped forward with desperation on her iron-willed features. "But you are the best healer in the world! You have to keep trying!" she pleaded, the boy guessing that her own lost connection made her say that as much as sympathy for Korra did.

The old woman's eyes moistened as she shook her had. "I'm sorry, there's nothing else I can do. Korra can still airbend, but her connection to the other elements has been severed." a noise behind her, and she stepped out of the way, letting Korra stomp through. The girl hung her head as she stared at the floor, her face impossibly blank and dull.

The boy thought of something to say, anything that could help her, but nothing came to mind, and he stayed as quiet as everybody else did. Except for Tenzin. "It'll be alright Korra."

She looked up at him, her eyes bitter. "No, it's not."

Everyone was quiet, as she studied all of their faces for a moment, daring any of them to speak up, to try and comfort her. She froze as her mother returned her gaze, a little smile on her features, trying to tell her daughter that it'll be fine. Korra shook her head and walked out of the door, grabbing her sealskin jacket as she trudged out into the freezing snow. "Honey!" She ignored her mother's cry, tears stinging her eyes as she trudged out into the blinding white.

Tai took a deep breath, preparing to head out after her when he saw Mako staring at the white expanse before nodding to himself and walking out into the cold. He stopped, feeling a niggle of outright jealousy, but he squashed it down as he tried to convince himself it was better for the older boy to do it instead.

His failure was spectacular.

* * *

_The Frozen Wastes._

She stared straight head, keeping her eyes forward as Naga bobbed up and down below her, whining occasionally as she felt the girl's pain. She ignored her whines, stirring her forward by clapping her heels against Naga's flanks, urging her to go faster, and not stop for anyone.

No good.

A fresh wetness clouded her vision a little bit, and she took one hand away from the reins to wipe them away with her palm, trying desperately to stay calm about her situation. It didn't work, and she found that the tears began streaming down her cheeks much more quickly as up ahead the land stopped abruptly, cutting off into a massive drop to the cold waters below. Naga slowed, sensing that they were running out of ground, but the girl urged her forwards with a snap of the reigns, driving her loyal companion to bound forwards towards the edge of the cliffs, even if she didn't necessarily agree.

Useless.

The girl felt a hollow void growing within her, and on instinct she reached into the core of her very being, calling to the comforting flow of energy that would be lying within. Nothing was there, and she choked out a gasp before biting down on it, her lips trembling as the cliffs began to loom closer and closer. She managed to take a tiny amount of solace in seeing the sparkling waters underneath the sun's light, and something made her clap Naga's flanks, the polar-bear dog caught the message and skidded to a halt, a small whine rising in her throat as the girl slid off of her saddle, her shoulder sagging as she walked towards the cliffs, listing a little as she wasn't too sure where she was going to.

_Half-Baked._

A tear rolled off her cheek, glistening as it caught the sun's reflection, while tumbling down into the waters and sharp rocks below. She choked back a cry as she sat down on the snow near the cliff's edge, drawing her knees up close and burying her head in them as tears flowed down her cheeks, slightly stinging against her skin as the cold got to them. She didn't care, nothing mattered any more and she just did not care.

Good for nothing.

The tears flushed out of her, and the girl's shoulders shook terribly as she buried her face in her knees, wishing that she knew the answer, that she could just fix what was wrong with her. No thoughts came to her though, and she gasped before sobbing again.

Someone's hand fell on her shoulder, but she didn't pay attention to them, still wrapped up in her loss as nearby Naga whined, a strange tone to it that made the girl look up from her tears. "Not now Tenzin, I just want to be left alone." she muttered, her voice sounding broken and dead to her ears.

The wind rustled through her hair as Tenzin spoke. "But you called me here."

She stopped her sobs, and her eyes were wet as she twisted around to see a bald man standing there. A gentle smile on him as she blinked in confusion. That wasn't Tenzin. That was-

Korra smiled, and that small action lessened the impact of the massive hole inside of her being. "Aang."

He nodded as he sat down next to her, his hand feeling real to her even though he was long dead. She caught that thought before it got away from her, all avatars became spirits when they died, that was one certain thing she knew.

"You've done it." he said, warmth and pride at her success mixing in his gentle tones. "You've finally connected with your spiritual self."

Once again she blinked in confusion, not quite sure what he was talking about. She didn't feel spiritual, she had lost her connection to the elements, and in turn, the spirits. She stood up, staring at the glittering sea below in stunned shock. "How?" she asked quietly, not wanting the seed of hope to continue growing.

"What Amon did to you was unprecedented, never before has something like that been inflicted on an Avatar. It was unnatural, and cruel what he did. But don't worry. You'll get your bending back gradually." he explained, every single word just going through one of the girl's ears and out the other.

"I don't get it." she murmured.

He smiled at her again, and she was certain the wind began to pick up. "To put it simply, when we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change." as he said those words he stepped away from her. She wasn't sure why until the air began to shimmer and shift behind him, and one by one magnificent and awe-inspiring men and women, of all nations, stood behind him, stretching away into the horizon. "You need to build up your strength again." he said.

She had questions. So many of them. But one in particular nagged at her, and forced her to speak up. "But... the world needs me! I need to be at my best now, what do you-" she trailed away, when his hand fell on her shoulder, and he smiled gently down at her.

"Korra. I can't do that, I wish I could, I really do. But you need to find your own path."

Before she could ask what he meant by that his thumb fell on her forehead, and for a moment she recoiled at the touch, before his other hand stilled her as it touched down between her neck and shoulder. A warm light flowed into her, and all speech was taken from her as her eyes closed, and miraculously, the flow of energy within her began to move again.

His touch disappeared, along with him as her predecessors shimmered back into thin air, leaving her standing alone at the cliffs, trying to register what happened. Something within her awoke, and her eyes glowed with soft golden light as she stepped forward, taking a deep breath as her thoughts buzzed with wonder at the vibrant feeling. It felt fantastic as she punched the air in front of her, a massive twisting column of flame erupting forwards. She cut it off with a single thought, and she swept her leg along the snow in a graceful arc, the earth underneath the ice rumbling and cracking as fissures webbed out from her, before they stopped abruptly. She threw her hands out to the sides, and behind her the waters below the cliffs rose up, trying to rush to her. They died down as she slammed her palms against each other, and a great wind pulsed out from her in all directions.

Slowly, the feeling died down as she shook her head, draining the golden glow from her eyes and leaving her with a yearning feeling. Naga barked happily, and she turned her head to see a familiar boy with a red scarf running towards her. She stepped towards him, eager to keep the vibrant feeling in her chest!

Behind her the sun broke through the clouds completely as she ran into his embrace, feeling that vibrant feeling rising again. She clang to it as much as she could.

* * *

_Epilogue._

* * *

The tear rolling down his cheek was forgotten as he heard the click of a electro-glove being triggered. He acted quickly, dropping the wheel to windmill his arms, and bring them towards his chest. The waters around their boat responded instantly, flowing into the air and forming a thick blob around the back half of the boat. His eyes were wide as he snapped his arm forward, coaxing a small tendril out of the sphere to wrap around his brothers chest, wrenching him into the water as Noatak dived under the waves himself, still keeping his arms moving to stabilize the sphere. It wasn't enough as the pressure wave slammed him deeper into the dark abyss, and he blacked out after seeing the limp body of his brother floating on the surface of the water.

With a start his eyes flew open, and as they saw the horrifying face looking down at him, fangs bared and eyes amused, he quickly formed his face into a emotionless mask, emptying his mind of all feeling as the massive centipede in front of him clacked it's claws.

Taking out as much feeling as he could, he spoke one word. "Koh."

"Oh, you do remember me! Good." it said with a airy tone, before snarling and rushing forward, it's pincers just barely out of reach of his skin.

Inside he screamed, but outside he kept on that neutral look. "My brother. I want to save him."

"Already making another deal? You have just broken one, child." it cautioned. His dark surroundings rumbled as it moved, looking at him with the golden eyes of a young farmhand.

He went to open his mouth, to work out a deal to save Tarrlok as the face melted away, revealing a sickly yellow glow, surrounded by a black abyss that hungered for him. As soon as he saw it, the face reappeared, this time in the guise of a Fire Nation man, his chin and jawline covered in rough stubble and raven black hair as dark as night. Noatok's eyes widened in recognition of nothing but guilt and regret. "Anzo... you have him-"

The face _it_ wore nodded vigorously, with a easy smile that had been on the man's kind face every moment possible when he was alive. "I've been a little curious about his little spawn's adventures since that dreadful accident. Watching him aid the Avatar in dismantling all of your hopes and dreams can't have been easy, child." Koh reared in close again, the man's gentle smiling features now filling Noatok's vision. "Bringing them both to me would have been a nice gift-"

"My revolution is finished." Noatok said without emotion, even though inside the guilt and regret over the people he had hurt just looped over and over. He looked Anzo- _Koh_, in the eye. "This isn't about Anzo's boys either. I want my brother to live."

Eternity seemed to repeat for Noatok as Koh mulled it over, even though it only needed a second or so."Oh, I suppose I can be kind. Old Koh can be so soft sometimes."

Inside the man felt relief, tempered by a massive tension as he stared into the facestealer's current face. The massive spirit moved again as it reared above him. "On one condition." it hissed, sending a immeasurable chill down Noatok's spine.

Noatak wondered what it was, and the curiosity to know nearly overwhelmed him, but his surroundings shifted again, and he found himself clutching onto a broken piece of wood floating on the waves, a few seconds passed, and he howled with anguish as his face burned.

* * *

It shook its head, its entire swollen centipede body swaying in the process as it sighed. Mortals were too easily duped.

"Playing with prey is ill-advised, old one."

Something. A shape. Melted out of the shadows in Koh's dark, dank and cosy little home. A slim woman, with bone white skin and wrapped in wispy lengths of black shadow - barely noticeable in the darkness - sauntered towards the great spirit. Her golden eyes gleamed in the darkness as a little smile played on the edges of her lips.

"Greetings, Shenjing." Koh hissed, swaying its body in mockery of a bow towards the slim woman-shaped entity. "I believe your services may be required."

"Oh?"

"A old friend of mine needs to be reminded of their duty as the Avatar."

Shenjing sauntered up to Koh, running a hand along the spirit's shiny black carapace. "It will be done, Koh."

* * *

潮


End file.
